It doesn't always have to be educationally valuable

After a hard day at work, we come home and look forward to the moment when we can lie on the sofa, sighing comfortably, and relax - for example with a series or a football match. We let ourselves be entertained without any great expectations of depth or further education. And let's be honest: that's perfectly fine and entirely appropriate.

Why does it go against the grain when our children demand exactly the same thing? A little relaxation on the screen after a hard day? In my experience, children often divide screen time into good and bad: Good if it's for school or the content is at least educationally valuable, Bad if they're on social media or playing a game.

Why does it go against the grain when our children demand exactly the same thing?

This battle for screen time is becoming even more acute as more and more schools are focussing on work on PCs or tablets. Children (and somewhat less frequently teenagers) are then told: «But you've already spent two hours on the PC, now that's enough», even if they used those two hours to research background material for a presentation.

Children watch us closely

We, on the other hand, see no problem in spending two or three hours on the TV after eight hours on the PC. Please don't get me wrong: screen time is an important topic that needs to be discussed between parents and children. A restriction is sensible and also recommended.

But children's screen time can also be meaningless - at least from the parents' point of view. We should also never forget: Children observe our behaviour very closely and are sensitive when we set completely different standards for ourselves. Not infrequently out of sheer convenience.

Media literacy also means using media appropriately for the situation. Learning and relaxation - both are useful at the right time.

After a day full of school lessons, sports clubs, music lessons and gruelling conflicts at lunchtime, children should be allowed to relax and retreat. Here, too, we need to be more precise: some children can wind down with a game, while others tend to get stressed. This is completely individual and we parents need to take a close look.

Media literacy also means using media appropriately for the situation. Learning and relaxation - both are useful at the right time. Not only for adults, but also for children. Important for parents: children find childish things very relaxing and funny. We don't have to understand that, we can just accept it.