What happened was, I had hidden the gadgets the night before. Now that school is out, without control, the kids could stare into the gadgets the ENTIRE day. Popo wouldn't control, she couldn't be more glad when they turned into screen zombies and make no noise at all. I don't blame her; it is no joke staying home with 2 noisy kids.
My plan was to call them during lunch to tell them the hiding spot so that they could retrieve the gadgets. When I finally remembered, it was 2ish in the afternoon and nobody had called, which only meant 1 thing – I had a lousy hiding spot and the kids had found the gadgets much earlier in the day.
I was so right. I saw Lil Shauna online on whatsapp. She quickly pushed the blame to Zaky and how he found the gadgets EARLY in the morning. This also meant that they had already turned into screen zombies a long time back. I lamented loudly and one of the participants at my table who is also a mummy of 2 quickly introduced the app to me.
This is a chargeable app and it comes with the 14 days’ trial. Briefly, I am able to limit the amount of screen time per day and able to cut off access immediately. The latter means that there will not be “5 more minutes” scenario during bedtime. I was so excited and downloaded the app immediately.
To instill control over the kids’ gadget, the app has to be downloaded in their gadget as well. I did this immediately the same night. The app works wonderfully on Lil Shauna’s android phone. Other than the mentioned features, I am able to set gadget-free night time period as well as school time blockages. I could select the apps that will be blocked out when these limits kick in and grant additional screen time when needed. The app comes with an activity log to track Lil Shauna’s screen activity. Woohoo! When the limits are activated, Lil Shauna will see a message to inform her that the selected apps are blocked. She could still use the other apps and functions that are not blocked by the limits. How cool, right?
It was trickier with the iPad. We had to 1st upgrade the software that took a long time. Unlike the android phone, the app is only able to track the total screen time that Zaky had used. When the limit is up, all the apps (except for the basic ones) DISAPPEARED from the screen. Magic…
We tried the app yday and I had Zaky calling me anxiously at 8.58am on why the apps weren’t back. Well, he was 2 minutes too early. They must have been gadget deprived bcos I could see that they used their gadget straight for almost 3 hours once the limits were removed. Lol. I tried to grant additional screen time in the night. It worked easily on Lil Shauna’s phone but we had some trouble with the iPad. We had to turn on and off the wifi and the iPad a couple of times before it finally worked. When the 30 mins extra screen time was up, the limits automatically kicked in and the kids automatically put down their gadget and headed to the bedroom. See, this is GOLD!
While the app isnt the smoothest and there were some lags, it is definitely better than trying to hide and pray that the kids wouldn't find their gadgets. I was worried that Zaky will have issues with his iPad this morning and he did but got the apps back after activating the Screen Time app. I then read and found that the app cannot be turned off on the iPad or the screen time control will kick in. We have no such issue with the android phone. I also found that the kids can “earn” extra screen time if they do certain tasks/ chores but of course subject to mummy’s approval and manual activation. Anyway, I think I am going to have so much fun with this app. Muahahahaha. I will decide in 2 weeks’ time if I should pay for the app. I think I would. I like torturing the kids. Hahaha.
Mummy Lim
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