Screen Time Tips: 5 Questions to Guide Decisions

Key Takeaways

Every child responds to media differently.
Balance screens with sleep, play, and relationships.
Use the 5 C’s to guide media choices.

Explore simple screen time tips to balance your child's media use with healthy development, play and social interactions.

The 5 C's of Screen Time Decisions

You might be wondering how to set healthy guidelines for your child’s screen use—like watching television, tablets, short videos on YouTube, online games and more. In 2026, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) developed a set of guidelines and screen time tips to help parents think through decisions about screen use. You are the expert on your child.

These five questions can help you think through what screen media, and how much, is right for your child.

Child

Who is your child and how do they react to media?

Babies

Your child’s temperament, or way of experiencing the world, shapes their reaction to screen experiences.

Pay attention to your baby’s cues. If they seem overstimulated, fussy, or have trouble settling after screen experiences, it may be a sign they need a break and more time for face-to-face interaction, play, or quiet exploration.

Toddlers and Preschoolers

Your child’s temperament is coming out—shy, outgoing, impulsive, curious. Some children seek out a lot of screen time. Others are less interested or have an easier time letting it go.

For children who have a harder time moving away from screens, plan ahead to prepare them. Talk about how long they will have with screens ( “we’ll watch for one show”) even before they start watching. Then offer a reminder before the end of screen time. Then put the screen away and have another activity ready to go. Make transitions easier on your child and yourself by turning off auto-play as well.

Content

What is worth your child’s attention?

Babies

FaceTime, Zoom, and other video chats help your baby build relationships with loved ones.

Babies can’t learn efficiently from other screen experiences, like videos or shows, at this age. Instead, you can give them time to play, move, and explore.

Toddlers and Preschoolers

If you choose to offer screen time, look for high-quality educational programs like PBS KIDS shows, which can teach facts, healthy behaviors, and how to manage emotions.

Avoid media with ads, or content that is scary or violent. Skip programs or games that feature poor role models. Turn off auto-play. If you use YouTube, make a playlist of high quality videos.

Calm

How does your child calm their big feelings? How easily do they fall, and stay, asleep?

Babies

Babies need your soothing to help them calm down. They also need support as they transition to sleep.

If babies rely on screens to calm and sleep, they will not have a chance to develop these skills on their own. That’s why it’s important to make sure that screens do not become a baby’s only source of comfort or calming.

Toddlers and Preschoolers

Tantrums are really common at this age. Learning how to manage these big feelings is part of growing up. Use these moments as a chance to teach your child ways to cope. If they always calm down with a screen, they miss the chance to build self-regulation skills.

Screens can also get in the way of sleep. Children who use screens before bed go to sleep later and wake up more than kids who don’t. Try to keep bedrooms screen-free.

Crowding Out

What activities does screen use take the place of?

Babies

Babies can’t learn from screens yet. Your baby needs back-and-forth interaction with you to grow up healthy—like talking, playing, moving, and reading together.

That’s why screen time matters! Keeping screen use a small part of your baby’s day helps them learn and grow.

Toddlers and Preschoolers

Think about what the right amount of screen time is for your child. Toddlers thrive when they have many chances to explore the world around them and build friendships. What other activities do you want your toddler to experience each day—like play, family time, stories, helping out with simple chores, going outside, and more?

The more screen time toddlers have each day, the fewer other activities they have time for. Make sure your child has a balance of activities each day.

Communication

How can you raise a media-smart child?

Babies

If you decide to let your baby have screen experiences, watch together. Sing the songs and describe the characters and story.

Use screens as a launching pad for playing together. Your baby can’t learn easily from screens. But they can learn from you!

Toddlers and Preschoolers

Talk to toddlers about what they see on screens, like “good” and “bad” behavior or how different characters are feeling. Talk about the purpose of ads (to get people to buy something).

Talk about what your child can do if something they watch makes them feel scared or confused. Help your child try some of activities they see on screen—like outdoor play, cooking, art activities, and more.

For more information, visit healthychildren.org.

Guidelines developed by the AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health, inspired by Lisa Guernsey’s “3 C’s advice about kids and screens.”