Ours is going on 4 - and I’ve gone by the same principles as to how I trained our cats to never beg for food and not get fat - abundance.
She’s allowed to watch YouTube kids or Netflix whenever she wants, or to play Minecraft or Mario or whatever on the switch.
The upshot is that there’s no desperation, no begging, and self-moderation of consumption. She’ll watch a video about planetary formation for 20 minutes, or a Minecraft tutorial, and then she’s bored of that, off to go make art, or play outside, or have a tea party, whatever.
One rule that’s cast iron is never at the table - we go out for dinner, she’s bored and shitkicking, she gets a pen and paper. She reads, she writes, does arithmetic, and she’s empathetic and inquisitive. Couldn’t ask for more.
Once in a while she’ll decide that today she wants to lounge on the sofa and binge on Bluey, and that’s fine - it’s never a permanent state of being.
She’s allowed to watch YouTube kids or Netflix whenever she wants, or to play Minecraft or Mario or whatever on the switch.
The upshot is that there’s no desperation, no begging, and self-moderation of consumption. She’ll watch a video about planetary formation for 20 minutes, or a Minecraft tutorial, and then she’s bored of that, off to go make art, or play outside, or have a tea party, whatever.
One rule that’s cast iron is never at the table - we go out for dinner, she’s bored and shitkicking, she gets a pen and paper. She reads, she writes, does arithmetic, and she’s empathetic and inquisitive. Couldn’t ask for more.
Once in a while she’ll decide that today she wants to lounge on the sofa and binge on Bluey, and that’s fine - it’s never a permanent state of being.