Mom Banning Sister From Babysitting for Breaking Screen-Time Rules Slammed

​​The American Academy of Pediatricians (APP) recommends that children under 18 months of age have no screen time at all and that children over two years should be limited to one hour or less per day of high-quality programming.

In 2022, smartphones, tablets, game consoles, TVs, and computers quickly become a part of a child's life, and research shows that children aged eight-to-12 in the U.S. spend an average of between four and six hours a day looking at, or using, screens.

But one parent with a vigilant attitude to their child's screen time habits has been told to "relax" online this week after sharing her annoyance that her sister broke the screen time rules while caring for her one-year-old son.

In a post shared on Thursday on the popular discussion site Mumsnet, user MoMuM7 raged as she explained: "I have a no screen policy for my son. Everyone who watches him knows this. I've recently discovered that my sister has been letting him watch TV for HOURS when he goes over to hers."

The mom explained that her sister is single and lives alone, writing that: "As far as I can tell has no other responsibilities or distractions that would cause her to plonk him in front of the television."

"She loves him to bits," she said: "But why can't she abide by my rules? I have now decided she can only see him when I'm around. She's very upset."

After the mom's family told her she was overreacting, she took to Mumsnet to ask for advice from others. In over 150 replies, commenters quickly weighed in with their thoughts and were quick to tell the mom she was being unfair.

"I think you need to unclench," said one reply. Another Mumsnet user wrote: "It is pretty hard to entertain a child, particularly if you aren't used to it. I think you'll need to stick with paid childcare with such strict rules."

When it comes to interaction with screens and digital media, a 2005 study by psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Daniel R. Anderson explained that children younger than two do need hands-on exploration and social interaction with the world around them to develop cognitive, language, motor and social-emotional skills. Because of immature memory and attention skills, toddlers can't learn this from digital media as they do with real-life interactions.

While there are some benefits to screen time for young children, for example, using video chat for contact with far-away family members, or learning to use an interactive touch screen in a monitored environment, the APP says that for toddlers the evidence of the benefits of media is limited—especially when compared to the positive impact of adult interaction.

Longer-term health and developmental concerns that come with children and screen time include obesity, sleep disruption, and even cognitive, language, social and emotional development delays.

But despite the scientific background and advice around screen time, many parents were quick to point out that strict screen rules aren't always realistic.

"Mine often got TV as babies and toddlers to allow me to either get on with something or to just have a cup of tea in peace. Sometimes they were left with it for quite a while," said one parent: "Mine have survived, I can report, and are unscathed. You are being very silly."

One user said: "You're lucky to have the childcare tbh and hours of endless playing can be mind-numbing," while another Mumsnet user agreed and wrote: "A bit of TV really isn't a big deal. Especially when someone is offering you free childcare. Unless you're paying her industry rates you need to relax a little."

In a later update, the original poster explained: "I have childcare so she really doesn't need to look after him. What I don't understand is why she doesn't care about how screen time affects him. To me, she wants to play the cool auntie which will be handy when he is a teenager but he's a toddler."