Parenting: Son gets unlimited screentime at father’s house

Right, first question is, I'm a single mum to a two-year-old boy.

He spends every afternoon with his dad and stays overnight.

I'm quite strict in relation to screen time and phones.

I never allow my son to play on my phone.

I only allow him to watch half an hour of TV max a day.

When he's in his dad's, He seems to be allowed to watch cartoons all day long or watch Miss Rachel on YouTube.

When he returns, he's extremely tired.

He throws tantrums and screams for my phone.

I don't give in, but I'm really struggling.

I've tried to talk to his father about this, but he won't get on board.

How do I manage this behaviour when his dad will not buy in? And how do I maintain these boundaries without becoming the mean parent who he'll hate?"

I mean, there's two, like, there's a couple of things going on here.

Yeah.

But I can't, I mean, do you, do you know it or are you inferring he's getting a lot of screen time and running with that? And then if you go to your ex-partner or to his dad and say, you're doing this, is that experienced as an accusation? Yeah.

Which then elicits defensiveness.

You can see how that could play out.

And again, I'm not saying it is okay for the child to be on YouTube all day.

He's only two years old.

I do understand the mother's position on this.

But co-parenting in a cohesive, mutually respectful way is undoubtedly a priority here.

Because you will be co-parenting separately together throughout this child's life.

And it is absolutely in this child's best interest that they see their parents as At least getting along enough that they talk to each other.

I can't play them off each other because they're going to let each other know what I've said.

Children need that.

It's really important.