We are a military family and love using the phone for communication! When Dad is gone on trips or deployments, it’s so nice to be able to open up Christmas presents via FaceTime. At the same time, I find myself some days leaning on screens as a distraction to help get things done. It’s really challenged me to figure out other ways to help our toddler cope. For example, instead of watching videos of Dad every single evening before bed or naptime, we made a photo album and read a deployment book. Or if I find myself wanting to put him in front of a movie to cook dinner- I try to incorporate him by helping me. It’s been such an interesting transition for us!
We are striving towards cutting out as much screen time as we can in order to treasure the family time we are able to have together. We do have a tradition of watching a movie once a week on Friday nights! We really look forward to it- we cook dinner together, make popcorn and snuggle on an air mattress/blanket fort.