It’s the phrase every parent simultaneously dreams of saying and laughs at the absurdity of.
“What’s screen-time?”
If only.
While most parents spend their days wrestling devices out of vice grips and bargaining with their kids to trade chores for precious minutes in front of the telly, Gemma Sisia doesn’t have to worry about any of it.
Gemma is raising her four children in Tanzania, where the days are long and laid back and screen-time is a foreign concept. Literally.
Listen: Gemma outlines the day-to-day differences of life in Africa.
The Aussie mum is a long way from home, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Growing up in country New South Wales, Gemma left the family farm for an adventure – to volunteer in Africa and go on safari in the Serengeti.
Instead, she fell in love and and started her own family, a private school, and a new way of life.
When asked if screen time is an issue in her house on the I Don’t Know How She Does It podcast, her answer was succinct.
“No… tell me what screen-time is?”
Yes, you read that right. She had no idea.
For Gemma’s kids, aged 4-15, life in Africa is far more simple than the Western world. For starters, family time triumphs over screen-time.
“My husband’s the oldest of seven, so there’s a lot of family that live within 300 m of us… If I come home from work there might be six cousins and our kids on the trampoline so my job is to look after those kids and feed them.”