Parenting In The Digital Age: How Kenyan Families Are balancing TikTok, Homework and Chores

Evening Lights, Endless Screens

It’s 8 p.m. in an apartment in Lang’ata. The Sufuria is scrubbed, the router blinks green and giggles explode from the sitting room. A 15 year old is perfecting a viral TikTok move while her little brother holds the phone steady. The clock ticks and the homework deadline is in 30 minutes.

This is Kenyan family life in 2025; where screens glow brighter than the TV ever did and parents referee a three way match: TikTok vs textbooks vs housework.

When Hashtags Hijack Homework

Kenyan evenings used to end with Citizen TV news and bedtime stories. Now? YouTube tutorials, TikTok trends and WhatsApp class groups run the show. Take an example of a lady from Eastlands, a single mom of three. She can’t outlaw phones. Her kids learn English rhymes from TikTok songs and neither can she let them forget their sums either.
Her fix? Homework first, hashtags second. Wi-Fi stays off until books close. It’s a rule echoed in homes country wide.

Chores vs. content: creative compromises

In Nakuru for example, a family hosts what they would call Sunday Tech. Every weekend, parents and children gather in the living room, screens in hand but spirits open. The kids take turns showcasing their favorite online creators while their parents listen, curious rather than critical. The family ends each session with a question that guide their conversations: ‘What did you learn?’

In another family they have turned screen time into currency. Their screen time works on a simple system. Every completed chore earns digital minutes. Washing dishes adds twenty minutes. Feeding the chickens? Thirty. An hour of revising Mathematics? Solid sixty minutes of guilt-free scrolling. The arrangement teaches responsibility, and surprisingly everyone seems happier for it.

Meanwhile in Kitengela, for example, the dinner table remains sacred. As plates are set, all phones are dropped into a basket. The rule is simple. No screens until supper is done. And for anyone who can’t resist reaching in early? They earn a solo shift at the sink; washing every dish alone.

Parents Lead. When Mum scrolls Instagram during dinner preparations, kids notice. The balance should always start at the top.
Banning TikTok might even breed sneakiness.

Open dialogue builds wisdom. Have moments where you tell them to show you what they are consuming. Let kids curate a playlist of their top 5 videos and ask, “Is this real? Is it helpful?”

Have the kids film a 30-second demo on how to peel potatoes the right way. They’ll love being on camera, and you’ll end up with ‘perfectly’ peeled potatoes.

Through these small intentional rituals, Kenyan families are discovering a new kind of balance. One that values both the power of connection online and the beauty of presence offline.

Bottomline is connection

2025 parenting is about plugging in together. TikTok dances become post dinner fitness.

YouTube revision channels replace boring tutors. Chores get done to a trending Afrobeat playlist. The win is presence over perfection.

Try this today!

One hour. Everyone online. No guilt.
And then phones down. Play Ludo or Monopoly. Walk to the duka. Talk. Because your child won’t remember the Wi-Fi password.

They will remember you laughing at their silly dance.