iPad time
On a screen there are no last pages and no final bite that says break time. The pictures below give iPad time a frame, so the move back into the rest of the evening does not arrive as a shock.
♀Use iPad
A person smiles while pointing at a blue iPad with chat and music icons.
♀Use iPad
A person smiles while holding a white iPad with star and pencil icons.
♀Use iPad
A person smiles while holding and pointing at a grey iPad with media icons.
About this visual support
iPad time differs from almost every other activity in the house on one important point: it has no natural shape. A book has pages. A meal has a plate that empties. Outdoor play has the dark as a signal. On the screen, the next video, the next level and the next app keep arriving, and time loses its edge. The child is not refusing to stop, the brain is simply getting no help knowing when enough has happened.
A short picture sequence supplies the shape the device does not. One card for the start (choose an app, or choose three things to do), one for a visible timer placed next to the tablet, and one for the end (put the iPad on its spot, go drink some water). The end card works best with a concrete next activity attached, because the hard part is rarely the iPad itself, it is the empty minute after.
Practical tip: keep the iPad in one fixed place in the home rather than everywhere. Seeing the tablet on its own small table becomes a signal to the brain that it lives there, not on the sofa and not in bed. With Routined you can add iPad time as a named block in the schedule, so the start and the end have their own slot instead of competing with the rest of the evening.