Am I a terrible parent?

Question

So when my kiddos were pretty small, I let them watch videos for entertainment & learning. I tried to get them into books at one point, but realized they’re probably too young & it simply didn’t hold their interest for any length of time. I let it be & figured as they got a little bigger, their interest would grow & then they would appreciate stories & books. Well, now they are bigger, and could definitely appreciate books and stories, but they just… don’t. Or for very short periods of time only. They still seem to be so drawn to screen time & I feel like I’ve failed. How do I undo this and get them into more healthy forms of learning & entertainment, like books?

Answer

Cut down on TV and other screentime. Let them be bored. Books might not be their thing, but eventually they'll find omething else to entertain themselves with. Encourage them to try different things! 😊

Answer

We do weeks without screen time. We also engage with reading have books everywhere in baskets an I have probably 5 boxes in a closet I rotate them out every couple weeks. Reading is huge for us. We have all kinds of board books, long paper books, some with real images and some with fantastic art, pop up books and even books they can color. We make it a huge activity during the day and evening. We engage the children by pointing and by flipping pages and funny voices.
Also for Christmas we got out kids tonie box and some characters they love it. We own a few of the books of some of the characters so it has really made them more interested in a variety of characters. Also there is no screen so we feel it is a great way to build their curiosity but not have the screen aspect.
Best way to cut screen time is just go Cold turkey put the tablets away unsubscribe to streaming services and unplug the TV until you feel you have more control over the situation.

Answer

Find books that are interactive. Take them for trips to the library (ours has a big playroom) so they can pick their own books. Add it into their bedtime routine. We read 3-4 books every night once the kids are settled into bed.

Answer

My mom always made it a rule. And part of our nightly routine. 1 hour of reading. No screens. No phones.

Answer

You are not a terrible parent. We all just do the best we can with the information we have at the time. And we absolutely all make mistakes too. Reading early and often is very beneficial to children even if they don’t sit the whole way through the book, just letting them look at the pictures, ask them questions about the pictures or the story, or letting them make up their own story based on what they see in the pictures of the book. 
Sometimes small changes can make a big difference. Having age appropriate limits to screen time are a great start. Reading together is probably the best thing you could do. Bedtime is a great time for reading together, almost all kids love a good bedtime story. Or having other times of day specific for story time is great.

Answer

I’m going through the same… but maybe a little worse situation. My autistic daughter depends on the screen for eating. And she won’t feed herself. I completely failed there… but when the eating problems began I was desperate and thought it would be a good idea.

Answer

How old are they?
You aren't a terrible parent. It's never too late to start new habits. The best thing to do is to cut off the tv. You can do morning walks outside depending on the weather, put music on and have a dance party, buy coloring books and paint/paper to have them color and do art. Also, check into what activities your library is offering for their age group. And you can plan an activity (either free in your city or etc) to do outside as well. 
YouTube has storytimes for kids. KidTime Storytime is a good channel. The books are short too and interactive. Other than that, go to the library and pick a few books they like and try to read every night. YouTube also has science experiments for kids you can do at home and etc. 
What are your kids interested in?

Answer

My kids have gotten a little carried away too.  I set a screen time to not allow their tablets to work until 10 am.  At this point they’ve found other things to enjoy and usually go even longer than their screen time says.  Feels like it’s a better way to start the day.  Just an idea! Still not perfect here either!

Answer

I accidentally hit yes when scrolling but you are not a terrible parent at all. I would cut screen time like others have mentioned and still encourage reading.

Answer

you are absolutely not a bad parent! we all do our best with the information we have in that moment, and it will be okay. i would maybe do a screen time detox type thing. i started reading books to my daughter from the time she was like 3 months old and she is now 3 years old. she definitely gets her fair share of screen time, but she equally loves books and i think it's because we began reading to her so early. even if you think they're so young/won't enjoy them, it's so important for language development and acquisition! 
i would maybe cut down to no more than 2 hours of screen time per day, and no screen time less than an hour before bed. make books readily available at all times, some books even have audio versions that can be read to them. there's also videos on YT of children's book read alouds if the beginning of the transition is difficult.

Am I a terrible parent?

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