If your kids are anything like mine, the moment summer break begins, the bargaining begins too. Can I watch one episode? Can I just play for ten minutes? What if I finish my cereal first? By 9 a.m. on day three of summer, I realized I had two choices: spend the next eleven weeks negotiating with small humans, or build a system.
So we made a list. We call it the Pre-Tech Checklist — seven things my kids do before they touch a screen each day. It is not a punishment, it is not complicated, and it is not a chore chart in disguise. It is just a gentle little gate between waking up and pixels.
And here is the truth I did not expect: most days, by the time they finish the list, they have forgotten they wanted tech in the first place.
Before You TechWhy “pre-tech” works better than “no tech”
I am not anti-screen. I live in Orlando, where summer afternoons routinely hit 95 degrees with the kind of humidity that makes you understand why pioneers napped. Screens have their place — especially during the 2 p.m. heat dome hour when nobody, including me, wants to be outside.
But mornings? Mornings are when little brains are sharp and bodies are restless. If we let the iPad in first thing, we lose the best hours of the day. The pre-tech checklist protects those hours without turning me into the screen police.
It also flips the script. Tech is no longer the default; it is the dessert. And like dessert, it tastes better when it is not your whole meal.
The 7 things on our Pre-Tech Checklist
1. Make your bed
This is the gateway habit. A made bed is a tiny act of self-respect at 8 a.m. that quietly raises the bar for the whole day. I do not care if the pillows are crooked. I care that they tried.
2. Move your body
Twenty minutes of something. A bike ride before it gets hot, a dance party in the kitchen, jumping jacks on the patio, a sprinkler run. The point is to get the wiggles out before the day calcifies into stillness.
3. Read for 30 minutes
Anything counts — chapter books, graphic novels, the back of a cereal box if it is a really good one. I keep our library of books refreshed often so there is always something new. Summer reading programs at the Orange County Library System make this even easier.
4. Play with toys
Build a Lego city, race Hot Wheels down the hallway, set up the marble run, pull out the dusty bin of magnet tiles. This is the one that surprised me most — my kids forgot how much they loved their actual toys until I made unstructured play part of the routine again.
5. Clean something
One small thing. Make a corner of the playroom less feral. Wipe the bathroom counter. Match three pairs of socks. The goal is not a spotless house; it is the small, satisfying click of a kid noticing that they can make a space better. (Bonus: I am also reclaiming my house from summer entropy.)
6. Play with your Pet
The cat. Or the dog. Or the gecko. Or the neighbor’s cat through the window. Connecting with a pet is a tiny dose of empathy practice, plus our cat has never been so well-loved. If you do not have a pet, swap in “check on a plant” or “do something kind for a sibling.”
7. Write something
A journal entry, a thank-you note, a comic strip, three sentences in cursive. Schools are spending less and less time on handwriting, and summer is the perfect window to practice. My third grader is mid-cursive obsession right now and writes the most dramatic letters to me in cursive (and I love it!)
How we actually use the Pre-Tech Checklist
I printed the checklist, and then had the kids enter each one into their daily to-dos on our Skylight. Each kid checks off their seven items as they go. When everything is checked, they get me to look it over — then tech is unlocked. No timer wars, no negotiating, no me playing detective.
A few things I have learned in the trenches: do not make the list longer (seven is the sweet spot), do not add chores that are mine to do, and do not skip the list on bad-attitude days. The bad-attitude days are exactly when the list earns its keep.
Will it work in your house? I cannot promise. Kids are weird and routines are personal. But if you are staring down a long, sticky Orlando summer and wondering how to keep the iPad from eating June, I hope this gives you a place to start.
Grab the FREE Pre-Tech Checklist printable below, stick it on your fridge, and let me know how it goes.
