Routine guide
The screen-to-bed handover, with warnings
Ten minutes, then five, then a clear ending, then something quiet. The transition, not the task, is the thing that needs help.
Turning a screen off is hard because it interrupts something absorbing with no warning, from outside. A countdown the child can see, given before it matters, moves the ending from something done to them to something they knew was coming.
What actually helps
- Warn twice. Ten minutes, then five. One warning is often not enough to land.
- Give the screen somewhere to go. "On the shelf" is a step; "off" is an argument.
- Put something quiet immediately after. An empty gap after a screen is where the trouble happens.
- Keep the warning wording the same every night, word for word.
Does the app turn the screen off?
No, and it deliberately does not try. Flowly shows the countdown and the handover; the device stays yours to manage. Pretending to control another device is the kind of promise that breaks in front of a child.
The routine
📴 Screen to bed
- Finish what you are on 8 min
- Screen on the shelf 1 min
- Something quiet instead 10 min
- Into bed 3 min
Free for one child and three routines. You can change every step.
Your child sees one step at a time
Not the whole list. The step they are on, big and clear, with the next one quiet underneath, and a count of what is already done. That is the entire child experience, and it is why it works when a chart on the fridge stops working.
Now
Tidy away today
about 5 min
Next
Bath
Other routines
Flowly supports routines and organisation. It is not a medical, diagnostic or therapy product, it does not assess anybody, and no diagnosis is ever asked for.