School of Home - The Bored Day

At Christ the King Catholic School we wish to create a community that shares the following practices, both supporting and being supported by one another while striving for nobility.

First, parents discipline themselves. They practice the virtue of temperance in their own use of screens. This means that parents are comfortable with boredom—first in themselves, and then in their children. For the act of wonder can emerge in many ways, but most often arises from the experience of boredom. We begin to pay attention to what has become invisible to us only when our eyes and our minds are freed from vain and empty spectacle.

Second, parents are willing to experience resistance on the part of their children to the discipline they impose. This is especially the case when reducing screen use from an accustomed excess.

Third, parents are acutely aware that the time formerly spent on screens must be filled with some other good. They present the change not as a loss but as a gain. Setting aside screens means that there is more time available for important things that have been neglected or left undiscovered. Parents dedicate a portion of their family budget (perhaps even the same amount formerly spent on devices and subscriptions) to encouraging their children in hobbies and activities that form their minds, bodies, and attention: athletics, music lessons, hunting and fishing, biking, woodworking, mechanical work, or any such interest.

What are the guidelines for screen use in the home?

As a rule, children of any age should never have a television, gaming console, tablet, or cell phone in their bedrooms. Parents emphasize that use of screens should not be an obstacle to time spent with family, in communal spaces of the home. What devices there are should be stored and charged in common areas that parents can monitor.

Children in the grammar stage (grades K-6) should have as little access to screens as possible. What access they do have should always be in the company of a parent or responsible sibling, such watching a show or listening to music together. In general, they do not need cell phones of their own, though access to a basic “flip” phone may be needed if a family lacks a land line. Parents needing to communicate with their children at school do so through the front office or the child’s teacher, if encouraged.

Middle school children might be permitted limited access to texting and phone calls with a phone of their own. However, smart phones that give access to social media or the internet are a luxury that also undermine our educational work. Manufacturers such as Gaab and LightPhone offer inexpensive phones that also restrict access to platforms that are detrimental to adolescents while affording the chance to grow in independence appropriate to their age.

Families may consider moving their television out of their common area, and either putting it away when not in use, or placing it away from the most prominent area of the home.

Are we supposed to be afraid?

At Christ the King School, we do not wish to turn back the clock to a time before these technologies existed. They are here to stay, and our graduates must be able to use them well in order to function in our society. However, precisely to assist them to learn how to use technology well, we refrain from their use in the formative years of youth so as to fill the child with real experience of attention and reflection. These habits and virtues will serve to protect them against enslavement by technology in the years that follow.

We look forward to hearing your feedback in the Group Chat at Christ the King Telegram Channel!