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Glennon Doyle, an author and former preschool teacher, spoke to a friend last night who lamented that the only moment of peace she got all day was during "TV time."
What now?
Glennon, a mom herself, was deeply upset by this comment.
"Parents listen to me and listen good. 'TV time' is for peace times," she said in an Instagram video. "You know what 'TV time' is during the corona? TV time is allll the times. All the times. All."
"I decided every day to start strong and finish strong and just have a big mediocre middle."
And for those of the 318,000 viewers who were still unsure if that much screen time would have a negative impact, Glennon drew on her years as a preschool teacher, when she'd spend hours each night carefully planning creative, engageing lesson plans for her students only to find out from the kids' parents that they couldn't recall any of it.
"No matter what I did all day, the students only remembered the last thing we did," she said. "All of them. That's all they remembered. That's all they talked about to their parents."
So, she changed up her system.
"All you have to do is finish strong," she said. "I decided every day to start strong and finish strong and just have a big mediocre middle. One cool thing in the morning, one supercool thing last. Mediocre middle. Done and done."
What's this plan actually look like? She explains.
"After breakfast, read a book with them — that's starting strong," she said. "Then a quick seven-hour TV show. Then before dinner, turn off the TV and do something cool, something fun. Not Pinterest fun. Just easy fun. A board game, I Spy. That is finishing strong. Then dinner, then obviously another family show."
She added: "It is not trying to entertain them all day with a TV break. It's TV all day with a break of trying to entertain them."
Still not convinced? She offered up a few supplementary educational components you could tackle once your kids are set up in front of their screen of choice:
Walk in after a few hours, mute the TV, turn on closed captions. Reading Lesson, done.
Yell: 'How many Daniel The Tiger episodes is this?' They yell back: 'Seven!' - Maths lesson, done.
They yell: 'Can you turn it up?' You yell back: 'TURN IT UP YOURSELF.' Technology lesson, done.
They yell: 'Can I have some water?' You yell back: 'Walk to the kitchen and get it yourself.' Physical Education, done.
They whine: 'Mommy I'm tired of TV.' You look them right in the eye and say: 'Listen to me, baby. Keep on keeping on. Don't quit. You can do hard things.' Lesson on resilience and stick-to-it-iveness, done.'
Not bad for a mediocre middle.