The 2024 recommendation from Folkhälsomyndigheten (the Public Health Agency of Sweden) is clear: no screen time at all under two, at most one hour a day for children aged two to five, at most one to two hours for six to twelve and at most two to three hours for teenagers. Rules that hold up in practice are few, concrete and apply to everyone in the family: no screens at the dinner table, none in the bedroom, and screens off an hour before bedtime.
Twenty to six on a Tuesday in Sollentuna. Dad is cooking dinner, a three-year-old is on the sofa with a tablet and has been since they got home from förskola (municipal preschool, from age one). It was supposed to be ten minutes. It is not a sign of a bad parent. It is a sign of a long day, a child who wants attention and a screen that is the only thing that buys twenty minutes of calm. But it becomes forty, and then it is evening. Here is what the guidance says, and rules that actually stick.
The recommendations by age
| Age | Folkhälsomyndigheten 2024 | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | No screen time | Video calls with relatives are fine. No TV in the background; it disrupts play and conversation even when the child is not watching |
| 2 to 5 years | At most one hour a day | One hour is a ceiling, not a target. Many days can be zero. Together with an adult is better than alone |
| 6 to 12 years | At most one to two hours a day | Schoolwork does not count. Leisure screens, games and short videos do. The phone charges outside the bedroom |
| 13 to 18 years | At most two to three hours a day | The hardest to keep to, and the most important to have talked about. Sleep is the first thing to go |
Why the recommendations look the way they do
The reasons are simpler than the debate makes them sound. Small children learn by moving, handling things and talking to people who respond. A screen does none of that. Every hour in front of a screen is an hour that is not play, movement, conversation or sleep, and that is the problem, not the screen itself. On top of that, the screen crowds out boredom, and boredom is what gets children inventing their own games.
For school-age children, sleep is the biggest problem. Children with a screen in the bedroom sleep less and worse, and being tired is what makes everything else hard: school, friends, mood. That is why the rules about where the screen is matter more than the rules about how many minutes.
What counts: not all screen time is equal
An hour is an hour, but it matters what is on the screen and who is sitting next to the child. Watching a slow programme together and talking about it is something different from swiping through short clips alone on the sofa. A video call with grandma is not screen time in the same sense. And a child building something in a game with a friend is doing something different from a child watching other people play.
- Better: slow programmes with a storyline, together with an adult, a chosen programme, a fixed end
- Worse: short clips served up automatically, alone, with no end. That is the kind of screen that is hardest to switch off
- Background TV counts, even if the child is not watching. It disrupts play, and it means you talk less with your child
- Your own screen counts for the child too. A child trying to get the attention of a parent who is looking at their phone learns something about what matters
Rules that stick
Rules about minutes rarely hold, because minutes can be negotiated. Rules about place and time of day hold better, because they are either or.
- No screens at the dinner table. Applies to everyone, including you. It is the rule that gives the most, because mealtimes are the family's conversation
- No screens in the bedroom. The tablet and the phone live in the kitchen. They charge there. Applies from the first day the child has one
- Screens off an hour before bedtime. Every day. It improves sleep within a week
- Screen time at a set time, for example after the afternoon snack, with a set end. Not in the morning, not on request
- Screens are not a reward or a punishment. That makes them the most valuable thing there is. They are just something you do sometimes
- The same rules with the nanny, at grandma's, at Dad's and at Mum's. Otherwise it becomes a negotiation about where you are
Rules that do not stick
Setting twenty minutes and then negotiating up to thirty. Letting the child choose when. Switching off mid-episode without warning. Having different rules on different days depending on how tired you are. Using a screen to calm the child down when they are upset, because then the child learns that being upset gets you a screen. And having rules for the children that you yourselves break on the sofa next to them.
How to switch off without a meltdown
- Decide the end before you start. One episode, or until the timer goes. Say it out loud.
- Give warnings. Five minutes left. One minute left. Now it is over.
- Let a timer do the job. It is not you being mean, it is the clock that rang.
- Have the next activity ready and say what it is. Now we switch off, and then we go outside. Not: now we switch off, and then I do not know.
- Switch it off yourselves, calmly, if the child does not. No discussion.
- Wait out the meltdown. It will come in the first week. You do not give five more minutes. By week two it is over.
Your own screens
This is the part nobody wants to hear. Children do what you do, not what you say. A parent who looks at their phone at dinner, in bed and at the playground teaches the child that this is how it is done. Put your phone in a drawer when you get home, for an hour, and see what happens with your child. It is uncomfortable for the first few days. Then you notice that the child talks more, and that you answer.
The afternoon without screens
The most common reason for screens on weekdays is that the adult needs to do something else: cook, take a call, shower. It can be solved without a screen, but it takes preparation: a box of things the child is only allowed to get out while you cook, a step stool at the worktop so the child can help, or going outside first and cooking afterwards. A nanny who takes the afternoon is the other way. Our nannies have screen-free afternoons with almost every family, and we are proud of that. More on what they do instead is in our guide to Activities for kids and our guide to Rainy days in Stockholm with kids.
How we do it with our families
Aleksandra has long had a rule for the team: the screen is not childcare. When Denise picks up a three-year-old and a six-year-old in Solna on Tuesdays, they walk home through the park, and at home it is snack time, then they build, bake or draw while she prepares dinner. The six-year-old gets fifteen minutes on the tablet after his snack, as per the family's rule, with a kitchen timer, and Denise switches it off when it rings without discussion. The note says whether he took it well or not. The first month there was a meltdown every time. Now he switches off himself when the timer rings, because that is how it is with Denise, and that is how it is with Mum and Dad.
Would you like a nanny who comes on the same days every week and whom the children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny at your home, and we will work out a quote for your hours.
Read more: Bedtime routine for children · Setting boundaries without shouting · Rainy days in Stockholm with kids · FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the recommended screen time by age?
Folkhälsomyndigheten's 2024 recommendation: no screen time at all for children under two, at most one hour a day for children aged two to five, at most one to two hours for children six to twelve, and at most two to three hours for teenagers thirteen to eighteen. The time covers leisure, not schoolwork.
Does a video call with grandma count as screen time?
No, not in the same way. A video call is a conversation with a person the child knows, and that is something different from watching clips. For children under two it is the only screen use generally considered fine. Keep the calls short, because a one-year-old loses interest after a few minutes.
How do we switch off without a meltdown?
Give warnings: five minutes left, then one minute, then off. Let a timer keep the time, not you. Have the next activity ready and say what it is: now we switch off, and then we build. The first week there will be meltdowns anyway. The second week, fewer. Do not give in, or the child learns that a meltdown buys five more minutes.
Can the nanny use screens with the children?
That is up to you. Our nannies follow the family's rules, and most families want the afternoon with the nanny to be screen-free, which we think is wise. The nanny is there to play, go outside and do things with the children, not to sit next to a tablet. Say what applies at the first meeting, and it goes on the note.