I’ve never really thought about how important it was to monitor the kids on the internet and screen time, especially with them being so young and without a phone, tablet, or computer. That was until I let Harlan use my phone one morning to look up stuff for her birthday party and come back to five new apps downloaded on my phone. It made me think that, even at seven years old, I need to keep a closer eye on when she’s using my phone and how much she’s using it.
I try to be vigilent on the kids not spending too much time on my phone or the iPad. Sure, it’s fine when we all need a little bit of a time-out, but I’ve seen that when I give them an inch, they will take a mile when it comes to playing on my phone, especially with Harlan. Har knows just about everything there is to know when it comes to my phone and the family iPad. Even more so now that she can read. While I’m proud of her for being more independent, I don’t want her to rely on the phone as much as I do.
As I start to think more about how much screen time she gets and what she’s doing while using the internet, I thought it would be great to sit down and have a candid conversation with Har about what she thinks about her use of the internet.
Can I just tell you how proud I am of her answers? She did ask to play on my phone not even five minutes after this conversation. But an hour or so later, she asked about how much time I think is appropriate for her to use my phone, so I know it made a little bit of an impact on her.
I shared how much eero has made an impact in our home wifi. I’m still raving about it to nearly everyone I know because it’s improved our wifi significantly. But not only is it beneficial for our house wifi signal, it’s also a great tool for parents.
When you set up the eero network, you download the eero app to configure it. Not only does the app allow you to see the speed of the internet and who’s using your network, but the eero app allows you to create profiles for each member of the family and assign the devices on the network to the corresponding profiles. With these Family Profiles, you can tailor and manage your family’s screen time. The app allows you to set schedules, manage devices, and even pause the internet.
As Har gets older, she’s much more observant of my actions, including how much I’m on my phone or computer. I want to be the example for her. I want her to know that it’s okay to set down the technology to enjoy face time with one another. I tell her all of the time how much I love her and how much I love spending time with her. And thanks to eero, now there’s nothing that can stand in the way of that.
