Author’s practical guidance
The tablet as the first thing they see
Source named in the book: media use guidance (AAP)
A screen at six in the morning is the most reliable reward in the house.
Say this now
“Screens are after school. Mornings are for breakfast.”
One rule that holds every day. The trouble is entirely in the exceptions.
“Here's your basket. It lives by your bed.”
Gives them something to do at six that does not need you and does not need charging.
Do this
- Take the device out of the bedroom and out of the morning entirely.
- Leave books and quiet things by the bed the night before.
- If you keep it, fix the slot: after dressing, one episode, same time.
- End it with something they want next — not with the front door.
- Expect three hard mornings when you remove it, then easier ones.
Avoid this
- Handing it over to buy half an hour in bed — you are paying for an earlier waking tomorrow.
- Allowing it on some mornings only — occasional is the version they will keep trying for.
- Taking it away mid-episode to leave the house — you have added an unfinished story to a school run.
If it repeats
If the tablet is what makes your morning work, say so plainly and place it deliberately rather than removing it. Twenty minutes after they are dressed costs you very little, and the same twenty minutes on waking costs you the whole hour.
Why the book suggests this
A screen at six in the morning is the most reliable reward in the house. It never disappoints, it needs no adult and it is available the moment they call. A child does not have to plan any of that to start waking earlier for it.
The AAP's caution about morning screens is less about the screen itself than about what it displaces and what it sets up. Breakfast, dressing and talking all get harder after it, and the ending has to be negotiated at the exact hour you have the least time.
From this collection
Same Words: Every Night
45 prepared situations in this family area.