Screen time on a sick day: quiet watching on the sofa

It's October, the first colds are going round, and sooner or later there is a child with a runny nose and a warm forehead on the sofa. On a day like that the screen goes on more often and for longer than usual. That isn't a failure. It's a sick day, and a sick day has different rules.

This post is about keeping that day a little calmer. It isn't medical advice: if you are unsure about a fever, drinking, or how drowsy your child is, call your doctor.

Why the usual rules can wait

Screen-time guidance is written for ordinary days. The most important thing in it is that a screen shouldn't take the place of sleep, moving about, or talking with someone. A sick day is different: moving about is off the table anyway, and a child lying still on the sofa watching something quiet is doing exactly what they should be doing. Resting.

There is more on that guidance in How much screen time should a child have?

What still holds: sleep comes first. If your child drifts off halfway through an episode, let them sleep and turn the screen off.

Pick something calm, not something exciting

A poorly child gets little out of fast, busy videos. What helps is a slow pace, not much shouting, and a story that never gets tense.

• Miffy is the calmest thing we carry: short episodes, gentle voices, and nothing frightening ever happens.
• Super Simple Songs are a few minutes each. Nice to hum along to, and easy to stop after a handful.

A video your child has already seen ten times is fine on a sick day. Familiar is comforting.

Watch out for the next episode

On KidsTube, when a video ends the next one from the same series starts by itself. On an ordinary day that can be a nuisance; on a sick day you mostly notice it when two hours have quietly gone by. How that works, and why, is in Why the next episode starts by itself.

We don't have a time limit that switches the screen off for you yet. What does work:

• Agree on a number, not a time. "Three episodes" is easier for a four-year-old to follow than "half an hour".
• Take turns with something without a screen: an audiobook, reading a picture book aloud, a puzzle together on the sofa.
• Watch along now and then. A sick child often mostly wants someone close by. Ten minutes sitting next to them does more than the video does.

The screen itself

A few practical things that help on a sick day:

• Turn the brightness down a little and the sound down too. A headache and a bright screen don't mix.
• Keep the screen at a distance, on the TV or on a stand, so your child can lie down instead of sitting hunched over a tablet.
• Switch it off at bedtime, even if it was on a lot during the day. A quiet evening helps with getting better.

And afterwards

Once your child is well again, you go back to the usual arrangements. That doesn't have to happen all at once. Children understand perfectly well that a sick day is different, especially if you say so: "When you were ill you could watch more. Now you're better, we're going outside again."

Get well soon to anyone who needs it.