Is Screen Time Causing Unfavorable Behaviors In Your Child?

I have a confession.

I have been allowing my daughter to watch an INSANE amount of television lately.

Why?

Because I’ve been on a tight deadline in my business trying to launch a new product.

No excuse, however, I wanted to lay the facts on the table. I am a single mother, entrepreneur, and community leader. There are times when balance is NOT the name of the game. And I rely heavily on my support system to lend a helping hand.

Sometimes that support system is something as simple as the television, unfortunately.

So I’ve allowed my little one to remain glued to the screen so that I can have uninterrupted time focusing on my business. And this has come with some serious repercussions.

First being her mood has shifted dramatically.

Second, she has become lazy.

Next, she has become addicted to the screen.

And lastly, she has picked up bad habits. (As if the other ones weren’t bad enough right?) One of them is lying in order to feed her addiction to the screen.

I didn’t realize until after I made some major headway in my business that my little precious, wonderful, talented and gifted child has been skipping her homework assignments and lying to me about it.

Wait a minute.

How did I get here? I’m a Parenting Coach and I help other parents balance their lives in the thick of things and decrease unfavorable behaviors.

So how am I dealing with this issue???

Easy.

I’m a REAL mom.

So I deal with REAL issues.

How could you trust my word for being able to handle something if I’ve never dealt with it?

So here goes.

When on this path of parenting, often times you will find yourself at a point where you have to look in the mirror and say, “how did I allow this and what am I gonna put in place to prevent this in the future?”

So, because I wanted to meet my deadlines and needed some additional support, I allowed the television to “babysit” my child.

Whoa.

Saying that out loud really stings.

So when I tell you I understand how you feel and what you’re going through, I totally do.

No mommy guilt here though. Let’s tackle this pink elephant in the room.

Here are the steps I took to get back on track.

1. Spoke with my daughter about her unfavorable behavior. I confronted the unfavorable behaviors that I have allowed in order to get a handle on the situation.
2. Acknowledged my part in it. I explained to my daughter that because I wanted to meet deadlines, I did not follow the proper order in our lives and caused the imbalance to happen.
3. Plan for the future. After I confronted and acknowledged everything, I let her know we are a team and in order to have a great life, we have to work together. I asked her how she felt she could assist in doing her part (school and home work) and what I would do as well. Limiting screen time during school days was mentioned as a measure to help increase performance.

Notice in each of those steps me as the parent took full responsibility. Why? Because I am the adult and nothing could happen without my approval so it always is and will be my responsibility.

If you find yourself in this situation, don’t fret. Find a plan that will work for you, assume responsibility as the parent, and live your best life while raising awesome children!

If you would like to find out what needs are driving your child’s behavior, click here to take this 2 min quiz now!