Exams and Tv have a love hate relationship. They need a little to cool off and take a break. At the same time it’s a too distracting. How much is little and how much is enough for them to get enough during exams. I have never banned P from TV during exams. I trust her judgement to how much she needs to spend her time studying or how much TV she needs to watch. She has to find that balance. She has to figure it out herself, how much she needs to study. Once they are on social media it’s not only TV but also the media competing for their time. Then one thinks. Should I draw the line here? Should I put some restrictions on her or let her only be the judge?

I don’t want to be the restricting type of parent. Don’t do this…. Don’t do that….. Yes.. There are some things where you need to put your foot down, like meal time and bed time and to an extent the tv too. If I don’t take the iPad away from her before bed time, I see her using it even after I come back to check on her later. So as a rule the iPad has to be kept in my room before they go to bed. And her phone also starts downtime at 10pm. So she can’t use it beyond that. Given full freedom I don’t know what these kids will do.

It’s a very thin line. Giving your child the right amount of freedom and at the same time being sure they are not taking advantage of it. I think every parent needs to be the judge of it themselves. What works for them as a family also counts. You can’t have a general thumb tule for this kind of stuff. You have to consider factors like how much time does your child actually need to study, do they have external tuitions or classes to go to, how any extra curricular activities are they doing, how much down time does your child need to rejuvenate, what kids of activity does your child like to take time off.

Consider everything and find what works best for you and your child.