No screens, no naps, no problem (sort of)

It’s been a little over a week without screen time. Not for me - obviously - but for Jack and Pete. It’s really a much bigger…

It’s been a little over a week without screen time. Not for me - obviously - but for Jack and Pete. It’s really a much bigger deal for Jack (3.5) because Pete (2) barely had any screen time to begin with. But still,

Both kids = no screen time for over a week !!

And if you think I’m sharing this to show off, of course I’m not. I’m just a really good parent, ya know?

Honestly though, I’m sharing because it’s made a huge difference and weirdly, it hasn’t been that hard. Let me explain.

For reference: before our trip to Morocco and Portugal last month, Jack was watching 30 mins to an hour of TV a day. Pete? A modest 0-15 minutes, because (did I mention?) I’m a good parent. Gold star! Then we went on our trip, and I threw all the rules out the airplane window because we had to survive, people. You know, basic human survival.

On the flight home, Jack clocked about six straight hours of TV. I think he watched Frozen 2 twice and Inside Out 1 and 2 - the most consecutive screen time he’s ever had. When we deplaned and turned his screen off, Jack yelled, hit, cried, threw his body around, and had the biggest tantrum of the whole trip. I mean, it was so obvious: too much screen time.

Fast forward to the past couple weeks we’ve been home: I’ve been catching up on sleep (trying not to stress about my dad) by napping when Pete naps. Because Jack doesn’t nap anymore —even though he definitely should, he was watching 1.5-2 hours of TV a day while we napped. I felt guilty about it, but ignored it. Growing up Catholic made that part easy.

What I couldn’t ignore were the tantrums—what happened to my sweet boy? Jack’s tantrums seemed more intense and more frequent. The kid fought me on everything. He wasn’t playing well on his own, and listening to me was never an option.

Then one day, I let Jack watch 15 minutes of Ms. Rachel with Pete while I prepped dinner. When I turned it off, no freak out — none of the usual theatrics I get with Frozen. That’s when the post-movie-marathon-airplane-tantrum replayed in my mind. So, I thought about cutting off animated shows and movies and sticking to Ms. Rachel and Sesame Street from now on, but because I’m intense as f*ck and maybe a bit of a perfectionist, I impulsively decided:

No screen time, full stop.

The results were:

WOW.

Aside from me not being able to nap anymore (because I now have a permanent shadow), it’s been fine. He’s basically a puppy now— always by my side, sitting on my lap, begging for treats, or to help with a toy, but he’s not whining! Or mad. He’s just, there, being cute!!!

Don’t get me wrong, those first couple days, he bugged me to watch TV about 97 times, but by day 4, he got it. He only asked once, if at all. And the house is a lot messier now cause he’s playing a lot more. But isn’t that what kids are for?

Now that we’re a little over a week in, I’ve noticed Jack is way more calm, cheerful, plays well on his own, is nicer to Pete, and listens better. He has 0-2 tantrums a day and they’re about things that make sense like, “I can’t find my helmet!” or “No I want the darker cup!” Whereas last week, it felt like I wanted to get rid of him.

So, this is a long-winded way of saying I don’t get a daily nap anymore, and it sucks. I need to start going to bed earlier (I say this as I watch the clock creep toward midnight.) But on the plus side, I finished a book in a week because I’m reading during what used to be my nap time, while Jack snuggles next to me with his own book or plays with Legos.

Oh, and I started drinking coffee in the afternoon, just to have something exciting to keep me awake. For the record, it’s doing nothing for me. I used to get heart palpitations from one sip, so that’s why I never drank it. But now? I feel nothing. I don’t know what this says about me. My body is just forever tired? Or maybe it’s because I only take two sips and then forget about it. Is that what all coffee drinkers do? When Mike works from home, there are half-empty coffee cups lying around all the time.

Maybe coffee is just a lie we tell ourselves we deserve,

When what we really need

Is a nap.

For my paid subscribers, I wrote a review of the book I just finished—because, you know, I’ve got to put something behind a paywall. If you’re even a little bit obsessed with me (and honestly, who isn’t?), you’ll cough up the cash, and I’ll love you forever.

Book Review:

First of all, I have to share the adorable story behind why I even read this book: