Managing screen time

This little piggy went "Wii Wii Wii" all the way home.

Seriously, my son is SO into the Wii, still, that he asks all day long some days if he can play it, even if he's already used up his allotted hour for the day.

My best friend's son is the same way, but yesterday she told me something that she has started doing and I thought it was a great idea. I immediately implemented the plan for us, and I'm going to share it in case anyone wants to use it for their kids.

If her son (also 4 years old) wants his Wii time, which is up to an hour a day, he has to EARN it by doing "homework" such as reading books with his Tag reader or doing preschool workbooks. Every 10 minutes of homework equals 15 minutes of Wii time, and he can't earn more than an hour a day.

I had some workbooks sitting in Logan's coloring book drawer, so I pulled them out and handed them to him and explained what the deal was going to be for Wii time. To my surprise and delight, he didn't have any complaints about the system. In fact, he ended up working on his workbooks more than he "had" to, and he didn't use up all his Wii time earlier in the day like usual. He saved a half hour to play with his Daddy when he got home from work.

We went to the store yesterday and I got him a first grade math workbook, and he did the first part of it and loved it. He was learning to add and subtract! It got a little over his head after a while, though, but we'll keep working at it. I would love it if he is good at math as well as reading, because I am TERRIBLE at math!

So, that's the plan. He's going to be required to do workbooks or read out loud to me for 10 minutes to earn 15 minutes of Wii time.

Thanks for the idea, Liz!