What NOT to do During a Screen Time Meltdown

[Dr. Gabrielle Izralson]: What are some things you don’t want to do? You do not want to abruptly stop and take the screen away without giving a time warning. This will just make the meltdown worse. You do not want to give in and extend screen time to stop the tantrum. This will teach your child that, “I can scream as much as I want and then Mom or Dad will give in and I can get more screen time.” You don’t want to yell, shame, or threaten. This only escalates dysregulation. You do not want to take screens away as a punishment in the heat of the moment. So that’s only going to also create more of a power struggle and it’s not sending the right message. You do not want to negotiate or explain during the meltdown. That’s what I talked about keeping language to a minimum and really giving them short directives to just be calm in the moment, and then you can talk more about what happened. And don’t allow them to watch binge-style content. So remember, consistency beats perfection. And it’s not really about being perfect, it’s about being mindful yourself and acknowledging in this moment, like, “What can I do in order to make it a little bit better than it was yesterday?”