How I Cut Back My Kids Tablet Time

When my son was being exposed to some crazy things on a kid-friendly Youtube channel, I stepped in.

On my Ipad, I have a youtube app that is made for kids. It is supposed to make sure that only kid-friendly videos are shown on it. Also, the regular Youtube app has a lot of the filters in place so he would not be able to see anything bad on that app either. But somehow, a youtuber found a way to get some tricky stuff through.

My son was watching this kid play his favorite video game. The kid in the video looked like he was close to my son age. After dying in the game he was playing, I heard the kid say, "What the Freak!". I told my son not to repeat that and I better not hear the kid in the video say again either. But just a few moments later the same kid said "What the F....!" Yeah, a 9-year-old saying "What the F". I was not mad at my son. He has no control what the kid in the video is saying. But I told him I need the Ipad to fix that little problem. My son agreed and gave me the Ipad.

My son was not in trouble but I told him that I want to spend a week without the Ipad. He did get a little upset at first but said ok.

During that week I mad it a point to do a lot of fun stuff with him and make him not even miss the Ipad. I try to do something with him each day. Even if it was something simple like making brownies.

After the week I told him he could have his Ipad back. I adjusted the settings on Youtube more but I don't trust the things people put out. Somehow they can get past the parent controls. So I told my son when he has his Ipad, no youtube.

I also cut back his time using the Ipad by only letting him have it for an hour. He only gets it for an hour when he has done well in school and was good in class.

So far this plan is working well. We will see how it goes.