GLOW KID REMEDIATION STRATEGY (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Deal with Screen Time)

"I don't know any family that doesn't struggle over screen time."
-my mother-in-law (not throwing shade)

I lost my mind on a trip to my in-laws this summer.

Not because of my in-laws. Because of my 11 year old. More specifically: because of the iPad that had somehow grafted itself onto his body.

Okay, yeah, swimming or bike-riding, he'd willingly set down the device and come along. And thank God for that, because, well, at least there was that.

But when we were home and the grown-ups were talking? When nothing "good" was happening? Out came the screen. Curved went the spine, hunched went the shoulders. Vacant went the eyes.

Attempts to peel the iPad off of his face grew more difficult in direct proportion to the screen hours he racked up. The more he used it, the worse it got.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

Me: We are visiting your grandparents, for crap's sake. Get off the screen.
Son: NO WAY!!! Nooooo!
Me: YES way. Yeeeesssss.
Son: (gripping the iPad like Gollum holding the One Ring) THE iPAD IS LIFE! (direct quote, guys.)
Me: (Panicked. Embarrassed. Don't want to get into a full-blown power struggle at my in-laws. Whisper-hissing--) When we get home, we are doing full-on enforcement of some new Screen Time Rules.*
Son: (rolls eyes, already tapping the screen) Sure sure yeah now leave me alone.

Great googly wooglies. How did we get to this?

I'll tell you how we got to this.
And then I'll tell you what we did about it.
And I'm here to tell you: IT WORKED.

Here's what I'ma share with you:
- A Brief History of Our Family's Screen-Time Rules (Or: How We Got to This)
- Back to the in-laws' house, and The Three Things that Happened.
- Things that I, You, We All Need to Know about Screen Time.
- The Hard Reset of Screen-Time Rules -- The Rules, enumerated.

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