My Kid Discovered a Very Clever Screen Time Loophole

If you remove the controllers from a Switch, it looks an awful lot like a tablet.

My oldest daughter’s Switch has a bulky, but very cute, unicorn casting.

The rules we have for screen time in the house have evolved over time, because our kids are always changing, too. And much like raptors testing the fences for weaknesses in Jurassic Park, they get smarter. One day a few years back, my oldest daughter was hoping to watch a few videos, and so I asked her to hand me the iPad. At that time, we didn’t have any real restrictions on the iPad beyond a four digit passcode; that proved enough. If she wanted time, she asked us to input the passcode.  

Well.

As I was about to input the passcode, she announced “it’s okay, I can do it myself” and tapped the sequence in. Voila, the iPad was unlocked and ready for her brain to turn to mush for a few minutes. “How long have you known that?” I asked, astonished. “I always watch your fingers,” she responded without hesitation. It was at that point that I decided to start looking into the more substantial screen time features on the iPad.

The raptor had won.

The new status quo, where my wife and I approve increments of time, has worked for a while now. It’s a struggle at times, much like anything else, obviously. If the iPad is off, or it’s not family TV time, it’s also not screen time. And then, like clockwork, the raptor begins testing the fences again, and my oldest found an unexpected loophole:

The Nintendo Switch. And no, it’s not to play video games!

Let me explain.