6 hacks in limiting your child’s TV time

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6 hacks in limiting your child’s TV time

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Growing up in the 90’s, TV’s are were more expensive, Youtube didn’t exist, social media didn’t exist, apps didn’t exist, it took 5 minutes to load a webpage and up to 24 hours to download 1 song on Napster, Nokia was the most popular phone, texting was a rarely used feature as smart phones did not exist, and children went outside to play with their friends. With a room full of toys, all my 4 year old daughter wants to do is to watch TV or Youtube. It is partially our fault as parents. Whenever we wanted to rest, work from home, or work on chores, my wife and I would distract our daughter with TV or Youtube. Now that she is 4 years old, we need her to focus on her studies and making friends as she will soon start Kindergarten. Below are the steps I took to reduce my daughter’s TV time.

  1. Enable parental controls – Amazon Fire TV for example, allows you to limit TV time to 1 hour per day. We use this feature to make sure she does not exceed more than 1 hour per day on weekdays, or 2 hours per day on weekends.
  2. Read more books with your child – To make sure they don’t get too bored, try reading them different books. Get them into reading. Reading improves cognitive function and improves your child’s communication and creativity. We take our daughter to the library each week.
  3. Consider having another kid – Having a brother or sister helps keep your child busy as they can play games together. A sibling can provide an excellent support structure growing up.
  4. Enroll your child in extracurricular activities – My daughter is enrolled in ballet, Taekwondo, and soccer to keep her busy on weekday evenings and weekends.
  5. If your child goes to daycare, choose a daycare without TV’s. We experimented with different daycares, but found that the first two daycares would let the children watch TV half the day. I eventually found a daycare with no TV time and a school based agenda.
  6. Lead by example – Make sure your child does not see you watching TV or spending time on your phone all day. Make sure you are a part of your child’s life and participate in activities with them.

Hyder A.

Hyder is the engineer and blogger behind Finance Throttle, a blog that helps you accelerate your net worth through personal finance. With a Master’s degree and 10+ years of experience in manufacturing, Hyder is well versed in the topics of engineering economics and financial studies helping him to invest in equipment and reduce manufacturing costs. Hyder is passionate about cars and earning money as he bought a Porsche at 21, became a landlord at 24, and paid off $40,000 in student loans at 25. Along with his wife, they are currently on track in paying off their $282,000 mortgage by 2026 (Only 7 years!)