ask to buy
Every app and every in-app purchase waits for your OK. It's the one switch that stops surprise charges.
Settings > [your name] > Family > [kid] > Ask to Buy
Four switches and one short talk, done on the couch after bedtime. It works on iPad, iPhone, Android, Fire tablets and the Switch. You won't need to buy anything.
The first two boxes come pre-checked on the printable, so it already feels started. Each switch has the exact menu path, word for word.
Every app and every in-app purchase waits for your OK. It's the one switch that stops surprise charges.
Settings > [your name] > Family > [kid] > Ask to Buy
Tablets go to sleep at 7:30 on school nights. Calls and texts to you still go through.
Settings > Screen Time > Downtime
Let them pick it. Kids fight the rules less when one of the choices was theirs.
Settings > Screen Time > Always Allowed
Three questions, printed on the back of the page. It takes about three minutes and nobody gets a lecture.
Android, Fire and Switch steps are on page two.
print it or keep it on your phone
It lands in your inbox about a minute after you sign up.
do the four switches tonight
Ten minutes, kid asleep, coffee optional.
have the dinner talk tomorrow
Tell them the rule before the tablet does.
four short emails, one fix each
YouTube Kids, app ratings, shared passwords and the chatbot question. Then it's just the Friday Answer.
I did it during one episode of Bluey. The downtime schedule is the first screen rule in our house that didn't start a fight.
Yes. The printable and the four follow-up emails are free. After that you get the Friday Answer, and every so often I mention the hobby to side hustle course. You can unsubscribe from any email in one click.
iPad and iPhone on page one. Android phones and tablets, Amazon Fire tablets and the Nintendo Switch on page two. If you have something else, reply to the first email and tell me.
I send you the reset and the Friday Answer. I don't sell it, share it or put tracking pixels in the emails. The full version is on the privacy page.
Mostly. Skip Ask to Buy if they have their own money, and turn the dinner talk into a deal you make together. Teens push back on rules they didn't help write.
One page, four switches, three questions at dinner. The first box is already checked for you.
get the free resettonight: turn on Ask to Buy. it takes about 40 seconds.