Many parents wonder where homework practice on a tablet fits in when they are trying to limit screen time. The answer is that there is no ready-made figure, but there are good rules of thumb based on the advice of the Public Health Agency of Sweden and on research into how children learn.
What does the Public Health Agency of Sweden say?
The Public Health Agency of Sweden gives advice on screen time in free time. For children aged 6–12, the rule of thumb is at most 1–2 hours a day. For young people aged 13–18 it is 2–3 hours. Screens should not crowd out sleep, exercise, meals, relationships and schoolwork, and they should not be used right before bedtime. Always check the current page, because the advice is updated.
The figures refer to free-time use such as videos, games and social media. Schoolwork is not what is being limited, but it is still time in front of a screen, and it is reasonable to count it when you look at your child's whole day.
Three questions to ask yourself
- Does the session end by itself? A session with a clear end (10–15 minutes) is something completely different from an app that pulls you on to the next level.
- What time of day is it? Screens close to bedtime disturb sleep. A session after a snack or a break is better than late in the evening.
- Does it replace something better? A short session that complements reading, conversation and exercise is one thing. A session that pushes out sleep or play is another.
How to set up homework practice
- A fixed time and place. Agree together when and where homework is done, for how long, and that other screens are put away. In research reviews, clear routines are more strongly linked to better homework habits than direct help is.
- Short sessions several times a week. Practice spread out over time sticks better than one long stretch. Ten minutes on four days beats forty minutes once.
- Switch to paper. Read aloud from a book, write by hand, count with real coins or buttons. Not everything has to happen on a screen.
- Sit beside your child. You don't need to know the answer. Ask questions: “How did you work it out?”, “How do you know it's right?”.
- Stop in time. If it ends in tears or arguments, take a break and come back with a smaller piece.
And the app itself?
It is reasonable to ask what a learning app does to screen time. Lärkompis is built for short sessions: a session is about ten minutes, it ends by itself, and there are no streaks, points that disappear or ads that pull your child onwards. In the parent panel you can see how long your child has practised and set an evening limit. The app should help you stay within your budget, not eat it up.
When should you contact the school?
If homework often takes far too long, ends in tears or cannot be done without you, write a few lines to the teacher about what happened and how long it took. That is important information for the school, and in Sweden children have the right to support even without a diagnosis.
