Grandparents vs Parents: Who will win in the battle against screens?
New concerns surrounding screen time and mobile phone usage is causing rifts between parents and grandparents.
Parents, who want to limit their children’s screen time, can lay down the law, but it can be difficult if the grandparents are giving the children a bit more screen time than they’re allowed.
Both parties don’t want to rock the boat, despite their differing opinions. Grandparents don’t want to miss out on time with the kids and parents don’t want to miss out on work as they scramble to find a replacement babysitter.
However, when instructions are repeatedly ignored, this can cause rifts. A mother told The Wall Street Journal that she limits screen time at home, but when the kids go to grandma’s, the rule is significantly relaxed.
“Every time I talk to her about it, she’s like, ‘Well, I never get to see my grandkids, and they need to have fun with me.’ To her, watching a movie together is connecting. To me, that’s not connecting,” the mother explained.
However, the grandmother explained that she didn’t see a problem. She told TWSJ that she let her granddaughter stay on the iPad until 2 in the morning on a school night playing games.
“I told my granddaughter to turn it [the iPad] off. I didn’t want to get busted.”
The tension between the pair has frustrated the mother so much, she’s hired a babysitter to take care of her children on the weekends. Despite the tension, she’s reluctant to push the issue too much as she realises how lucky she is to have her mother still around.
“I don’t know how much time I have on this earth and I want them to have memories of how fun Mimi was,” Ms. Kapsi Potter said of her grandchildren.
“That’s what’s important to me. If there’s something they want to watch, I’ll let them. I let them stay up late. They can do whatever they want but set the house on fire.”