Bedrooms are for sleeping, relaxing and calming down, but many kidsâ rooms have become places for all types of entertainment. Things like phones, tablets, TVs, video games and all their chargers can really change the room from a place of rest. Experts on sleep for the family and doctors looking after children frequently say bedrooms are a key place to have rules about screens, because using devices at night can ruin sleep, make it harder to get to bed, and affect how a child does the next day.
And with families, the problem is generally about much more than simply how long a child is on a screen. A child might not use devices for very long during the day but will still have trouble sleeping if they donât go to bed at the same time each night, or if the devices are right there by their bed all night. Because of this, when talking about kids and healthy screen habits, we need to think about not just what theyâre doing on screens, but also where and when theyâre using them.
Bedrooms Shape Habits as Much as Rules Do
How a bedroom looks and what’s in it really affect a childâs bedtime. If a phone, tablet or something similar is there, easy to get to and just where it usually is in the room, kids will find it easier to keep using it, put off turning the lights off or go back to it later when they should be sleeping. And even if youâve said they arenât to use them at night, itâs much harder to resist when itâs right there.
However, a bedroom where devices aren’t usually used helps a child get ready for sleep. The room itself starts to say ârelaxâ instead of âhave funâ. This difference in the room is often just as important as telling a child to do something, because the roomâs layout, and what it allows or doesnât allow, is a big factor in the habits children develop.
Bedtime Routines Work Better When Screens Are Not the Final Step
Lots of parents find getting kids to bed is a struggle if screens are used to help them relax. Kids might not want to stop, will ask for a bit longer, or their brains will continue working on what they were doing for quite a while after the phone or tablet is put down. This makes it tougher to change to doing things that help with sleep like reading, a quiet talk, or simply turning the lights off.
Bedtime is generally much easier to manage when devices aren’t in the bedroom. Media use has a definite stopping point and the evening can flow more smoothly into things to do for getting ready for sleep. If youâre aiming for more peaceful evenings, family rules about where the devices are, are often simpler to stick to than arguing with your children for just one more minute.
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Nighttime Devices Can Affect More Than Sleep Duration
We usually think about how long kids sleep, but what they do with screens before bed can be just as important for how well and how regularly they sleep. They might struggle to get to sleep, be woken up more readily, or start to think of their bedrooms as a place for activity instead of for relaxing. Itâs interesting because even if the phone or tablet isnât making a sound or is showing something peaceful, simply having it around can still mess up their sleep.
And this is significant since sleep impacts someoneâs feelings, ability to concentrate, emotional control, and how they do in school. If a family makes bedtime more predictable by changing how devices are used in the bedroom, theyâre likely to see improvements in the mornings, with getting ready for school, and the general atmosphere in the house.
Charging Stations Outside Bedrooms Can Reduce Conflict
Lots of families find it works well to have one spot for everyone to charge their devices, a spot that isnât in anyoneâs bedroom. This changes the âdeviceâ issue into a normal part of how the family does things, so you don’t have the same fight every night. Rather than a child having to be told if they can have their device with them during the evening, the family just does the same thing over and over.
Charging outside of bedrooms is good, too, because itâs a clear and solid rule. Kids can physically see where the devices are to be at bedtime, which generally makes it seem less like the rule is aimed at them specifically or changes on a whim.
Adults Often Need to Model the Same Pattern
Kids are fast to realize if digital rules are just for them. When parents frequently have their phones in bed, or leave the TV on late, a rule about no devices in the bedroom can seem random to a child. Families generally do better when the adults themselves show some limits on screens at night.
This doesnât mean everyone has to do exactly the same thing depending on how old they are. But doing this really does emphasize the idea that bedrooms are for sleeping. When adults live by something too, the rule isnât just a restriction on the kid, itâs something the whole family does and believes in.
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Healthier Sleep Spaces Usually Start With Practical Boundaries
You donât have to completely change your house to get devices out of bedrooms. Lots of families start just by taking phone chargers and things out of the room, setting a place to leave devices for the night, and swapping using screens at the end of the day for something more calming to do before sleep. This can make going to bed feel much more predictable and lessen how much of a part of getting to sleep media is.
Kids generally do best with limits that are easy to understand, that you say over and over, and that your house is arranged to help with. Eventually, having no devices in bedrooms can help bedtime become about relaxing and resting instead of about being active and excited.
Key Takeaway
When you donât have phones, tablets, or TVs in the bedroom, youâre likely to sleep more easily, because thereâs less to keep you awake and your bedtime can become a more predictable process, plus you arenât using devices in the place where you are trying to sleep. Families typically do best with bedroom rules that are a part of how the house is generally arranged, for example, with places to charge devices in other rooms and with regular habits everyone follows. And what parents do is important too; if adults can be seen using screens at bedtime, itâs harder to get kids to stop. For a lot of families, improved sleep actually begins with deciding where devices will be at night.