[erfgh]

Why can't the kids play among themselves? I have two little daughters, ages 3 and 5 and I've never had to drop them in front of something. If I have time to play with them I do (which is most days) but when I don't have time or I'm very tired or I need to do something else I tell them to play among themselves.

[fullstop]

Telling them to go play has diminishing returns as they get older.

My kids are 18 and 14, and I've done my best to encourage creating things instead of consuming things.. but sometimes they need some down-time, and so do I.

[loudmax]

That's great. Keep doing this as much as you can. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to spend much time with their kids, so if you do, don't squander the opportunity.

It's going to be harder to keep these boundaries as your daughters grow older and their natural personalities develop. They'll likely take interest in whatever their friends and social peers are doing, and the two of them may go off in wildly different directions. Stay engaged and be ready to adjust your parenting techniques as the girls grow older.

[bennyp101]

I've found that doing that just makes it worse - they both have very strong personalities, so it ends up in war rather than letting me cook for 10 mins!

[the_only_law]

The places I’ve seen people plop devices in front of their kids has mostly been places you’d prefer it if kids weren’t running around.

[JamesSwift]

Nothing is better than the 10% of the time that siblings get along. The problem is that 90% of the time they actually are fighting with each other and its way more frustrating to deal with as you repeat the same exact arguments you've made every single day for the past 2 years.

[the_af]

What if you only have one child?

[svnt]

Then congratulations you already know how to create his proposed solution.

[the_af]

Haha.

But seriously, additional children come with their own pros and cons. Plus, of course, there's the thing about wanting more than one child.