What Parents Are Telling Us

In December 2009 Montana NAPA Staff had a conversation with parents at Learning Partners in Livingston, Montana about kids and screen time.

Lessons learned from conversations with parents at Learning Partners

  • Parents value activities which involve quality interaction and educational opportunities
    • Parents responses to their favorite activities to do with their children included talking with their kids, playing sports, playing with toys, reading and listening to music.
  • Screen time viewing and exposure is extremely prevalent
    • The majority of parents watch TV every day.
    • The majority of households have more than two TV sets, with a third reporting a TV in most rooms in the house (six or seven TV sets total) that they have.
  • Parents feel a lack of control over screen time in their lives and the lives of their children
    • The majority of parents found the American Academy of Pediatrics and Surgeon General guidelines that recommend limiting screen time for children over two years old to one to two hours a day and discourage screen time for those younger than two years to be unrealistic for their family.
    • Parents feel that other caretakers and family members dramatically affect the amount of screen time their child is exposed to, and that they do not have control over this due to living arrangements and child care options.
  • Parents express that screen time use and viewpoints over the impact of screen time vary.
    • The majority of parents view background TV as benign for their children.
    • Parents use TV to enrich their children’s lives.
    • Parents use TV as a distraction so they can get work done or have time for themselves.

Addressing challenges parents face in rural Montana communities:

"Thank you" to Learning Partners and all the parents who participated.