It is 6 p.m. after a full workday. A tired parent is trying to prepare dinner and clean up the kitchen before their children’s evening routine implodes. A minor disagreement between the children quickly escalates into shouting and shoving.

The parent also suddenly remembers an email from their supervisor about an upcoming deadline. Quiet and a sense of control is an arm’s reach away. All the parent has to do is place a tablet in each child’s hands, knowing it will quickly stop their fighting.

I am a doctoral student of child and adolescent clinical psychology. My new research suggests that whether a parent reaches for the tablet during stressful moments depends less on the child’s behavior and more on the adult’s ability to cope with the stress of a particular situation.

Parenting stress and screen time

Screens have become an almost integral part of childhood and parenting. Nearly all U.S. children use or view screens every day, and 42% of children ages 2 to 4 have their own tablets.

The American Pediatric Association offers different screentime recommendations for children depending on their age. The organization recommends that parents not allow children ages 18 months to 2 years to use media by themselves and that they limit media use among children 2 to 5 to less than one hour per........

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