The Best System I Found To Manage Screen Time

This post is Sponsored By Fetch

I feel like parenting has become quite the battle of the screens.  Back in the day when I grew up there was just one TV in the house but now we have 2 TVs, 2 iPads, 2 computers, smartphones and the list goes on.  We have more screens than people in our house that are capable of streaming television and movies which is a scary thought.

Having said that it is not so much the screens that scare me but more what the children are actually watching.  Back in the day there was one TV and our parents knew what was on because there was a very limited amount of shows we could watch.   These days there is Youtube, Netflix, Stan, cable, ABC iView App, 2000 different channels and who the heck knows what else.

For a while we have allowed our girls to use one of our family iPads each during their screen time however this did not pan out the way we had hoped.  On the one had they are happy in that moment getting what they want but on the other hand it is causing issues when we want to watch something as a family and they are wired towards exactly what they want with no compromise.  We have had many family conflicts over this very issue.  It’s funny because you’d think it would be nice to watch some TV together with your whole family and yeah I am pretty sure all of you know exactly what I am talking about.

Not only that but it’s hard to keep track of exactly what they have been watching.  We have a list of shows we have agreed to in our house that the kids can watch however it is not like we are monitoring that super closely as I am normally quite busy with house stuff while the kids are having screen time.  Having them in separate parts of the house on individual screens is not really a habit I want to encourage in our family.

So how are we trying to address this as a family.  My husband and I have been discussing for a while that mobile devices and tablets are not going to be a weekday thing.  After our kids come home from school they have afternoon tea and then they get 1 hour to chill out watching TV before they have to do any jobs etc. My kids are quite tired when they get home from school so I am ok with them having some downtime straight away.

Having said that we still want to be more aware of what our kids are watching plus teach them some compromise skills with other family members. This is where Fetch has been a godsend. Let me tell you why Fetch solves all of my screen time family problems.

Fetch connects directly to your existing TV which is awesome.  For those of you who hate lots of cords and fussing around your TV then Fetch is for you.  We had a bulky TV recorder and apple TV and could replace both of those with one small box which was great!

As well as streaming live TV Fetch connects directly to apps such as Netflix, Stan or YouTube so if your kids (or you) are wanting to watch shows via these apps you can do it on the TV rather than smaller devices.

Not only are you able to use streaming apps via Fetch but it also enables you to purchase some of the most recent movies and TV series like Big Little Lies (hubby and I just finished watching that and it was AWESOME). It also gives you access to a range of different channels beyond free to air, for example Disney Junior which is in the kid’s pack as well as giving you the option to purchase access to a range of channel packs if that is what you wanted.

But this still is not the best part.  You can record up to 6 live TV channels on the Fetch Mighty Box at the same time to watch later.  This has been great for us as there are some shows my kids have wanted to watch like The Voice or Masterchef however they are on too late for a school night.  So we can tape them and watch them later.  You can actually connect the Fetch to individual TV network apps however you will have to watch the ads.  My absolute favourite thing about Fetch is you can skip the ads if you recorded the show with one click woohoo because they are not actually affiliated with any specific TV channel.  There is a total of 585 hours of TV recording available on the hard drive.

Having Fetch in our house has meant that the kids can watch shows they want to watch together at a time that suits our family, on a big screen so we know what they are watching.  It gives so many options all in the one place so we have found it easier to find a win / win with all family members which has been great.

If you are looking for a screen solution which gives you all of the options but puts the management and control back into the hands of the parents, then you have to check out Fetch!

 

 

 

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