Digital Habits
“Can I have the iPad?”
What to say
Start here
"I know you just want to play a quick game on it. We've decided the iPad is only for car rides and airplane rides."
Offer the one way to play
"The only way you can play a quick game is if you use the iPad as a controller for one of the kid games on Netflix, on the big TV, like Pictionary or Underwatermelon, the watermelon one. Those are fine. That's a good compromise for us."
Say how trips work
"Otherwise, we just use the iPads on those trips. Before we go, we pick what goes on them together, and there's no open access to the internet. When we land or get to where we're going, like Grandma's house, the iPads go back in your travel backpacks and stay put away until we leave to go home."
When they say it is only for a little bit
"I know. I just don't want you on them, and I'd rather you watch the big TV. Every time you're touching the screen and tapping and scrolling on the iPad, it's a dopamine hit, and that's not healthy for you. It also creates arguments when I try to take it away, and that's just not a healthy dynamic for our house."
Why this matters
Most iPad fights happen because the iPad never stops on its own, so every time, you end up being the one who has to end it. In our house the iPad has a job, which is airplanes and long car rides. That way the answer is already settled before anybody asks.
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