Parenting expert reveals one strict rule that can help curb kids' screen time

A parenting expert has revealed the strict rules she adheres to and recommends to get kids' screen time under control.

Gen Muir says her hard and fast rule for screen time is no phones in the bedroom.

Though her children have screens "sometimes in their room to do their homework", she told Today Extra at 9:30pm, "All screens come out of rooms – no exceptions."

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But she does acknowledge this can be a hard boundary to maintain for both children and adults alike, and suggested three measures to keep everyone accountable.

Her first is to create a "contract" to put the terms in writing: "Keep it simple, but when it's in writing, we can't pretend we all didn't know."

The second suggestion is to have a locked box.

"They are tempting. They are going to sometimes wake up, and I have caught a child hand-in-the-box when it's not locked," she shared, "[Use a] lock box so the temptation is not there, help them out with that."

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Her final tip is to expect kids to break the rules.

"That's their job. And when they do, rather than come in with punishments, just say, 'Look, we all struggle with this stuff. Let's make sure we stay on top of it for the next week.' Put those habits back in place so help them out – be kind."

"It's not just our physical health, but our mental health," that will benefit from these boundaries, says Muir.

"We know [children's] prefrontal cortex, so that logical part of the brain, is not fully formed until 25 to 28. So while they're young, the pull of screens constantly can lead them to make a social mistake," she explains.

"So, that picture you shouldn't send, or that text you maybe should hold back on – you're more likely to do that overnight. So they're more likely to get into trouble."

Muir says ideally, parents should be modelling this behaviour

Parents who want to enforce this behavour should be doing it themselves, "whether it's docking your own phone at a certain time or using a brick device so you're not able to do stuff... if you can give yourself a little bit of space before sleep and just after waking," Muir suggests, though acknowledging, "but it's hard."

"The thing is, screens are addictive and they pull us in, even for us. And while (kids) don't have that capacity to do that themselves, we put the structure in place and hopefully, they feel those benefits and turn around at 20 or 25 [and say], 'That actually was great, I'm glad I had that in place and I'll keep it going."

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