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Kids' screen rules checklist

Agreed once, together, rather than argued over every evening — what's allowed, when, where, and what happens once the time is up.

22 items

Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.

The items

  1. A family conversation before any rule is written downRules agreed together get followed more than rules announced from above — even a seven-year-old has an opinion worth hearing.
  2. Screen-free times agreed
  3. Meal times
  4. The hour before bed
  5. Mornings before school
  6. Screen-free places agreedBedrooms overnight is the one most families settle on first.
  7. Daily or weekly time limits agreedSet to the child's age rather than copied from another family — what works for a ten-year-old is too much or too little for most others.
  8. What happens when time is up, decided in advanceA warning, then a clear stop — not a fresh negotiation every single evening.
  9. Which apps, games and channels are allowedCheck the age rating rather than what a friend already has.
  10. Parental controls set up on every device
  11. Content filters turned on
  12. App store purchases needing approval
  13. Screen time limits set at device level, not just agreed by word
  14. A device password only the adults know
  15. What happens if a rule is broken, agreed in advanceA consistent response decided ahead of time, rather than one invented in the moment and never quite repeated the same way twice.
  16. Charging point outside the bedroom overnightFor the device as much as the child — neither sleeps well with it within reach.
  17. Watching or playing together counted differently to time aloneA film as a family isn't the same use of the limit as solo scrolling, and most households treat it that way.
  18. Minimum ages checked before any social media account is set upMost platforms set one — worth knowing before an account exists, not after.
  19. Rules written down somewhere visibleSo 'that's not what we agreed' has something to point at.
  20. A date to revisit the rulesWhat suits a seven-year-old won't suit the same child at eleven — review it rather than let it just quietly stop applying.
  21. The same rules agreed across both householdsWorth a conversation if the child splits time between two homes — inconsistency is where most arguments start.
  22. School-night rules kept separate from weekend onesSpelled out rather than assumed, since 'the weekend' means something different to every child in the house.

Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.

Questions people ask

Should children help set the rules or just be told them?
Involve them. Rules agreed together, even loosely, get followed with far less resistance than a list handed down with no discussion.
How strict should the time limit be?
Specific enough to be checked, and matched to your child's age rather than borrowed from another family — what's reasonable varies a lot between a seven-year-old and an eleven-year-old.
What if the rules keep getting broken?
Go back to whatever you agreed would happen, calmly and every time — a consequence that changes depending on the day teaches that the rule is negotiable.