This article is featured in the Herald Sun and is republished with permission.
Parents are being urged to set aside 21 minutes a day for one-on-one time with each child under the 7-7-7 rule.
The trend, which is currently sweeping social media, encourages parents to allocate seven minutes in the morning, seven minutes after school or work and seven minutes before bedtime for dedicated screen-free time with each child.
Maree Mikhaiel from Care for Kids said it was about being “more present in your child’s life”.
“Being present with your child doesn’t have to mean big plans or perfect family moments. Most of the time, it comes down to small, everyday interactions that actually stick,” she said.
“It sounds almost too easy, but when done with focus and consistency, this tiny investment can make a meaningful difference in the way you bond, communicate, and support your child’s emotional development, she said.
Ms Mikhaiel said the time in the morning can be spent sitting together over breakfast or having a quick discussion about “hopes for the day”. After school it can involve “open-ended questions about their day” or a “quiet sit together”.
At bedtime it could involve a “short story or shared reading”, “talking about the best part of the day” or a “quiet cuddle and reflection on feelings”.
Ms Mikhaiel said kids “won’t remember whether breakfast was Instagram-worthy or whether you remembered to post a family photo. They will remember the moments when you were truly there”.
Ashley Hoyt, a mother of five, said it wasn’t easy but was there to “help your children grow into good adults and prepare them for the world”.
Psychologist Clare Rowe said there was real value in the 7-7-7 rule, which is a “reminder to be present”.
“In an age of smartphones, constant notifications, and divided attention, that’s something many families have lost. We used to build this in naturally,” she said.
“Bedtime stories, for example, were a simple, reliable moment of one-on-one connection. No framework, no formula, just undistracted time with a child at the end of the day.
“What concerns me is that parenting has become increasingly manufactured and over-analysed. We’re turning instinctive, relational moments into structured systems, as though connection can be scheduled and optimised,” Ms Rowe said.
“So take the message, not the metric. Children don’t need a ‘7-7-7 rule’. They need parents who look up from their phones, notice them, and are genuinely with them in ordinary moments.”
Psychologist Deirdre Brandner said the approach is “helpful in busy families because it gives parents a simple, doable way to prioritise connection without feeling overwhelmed.
“At the same time, parenting doesn’t run on a stopwatch; seven minutes of true presence is powerful, but distracted time won’t have the same impact. We also need to be careful not to turn this into another benchmark parents feel they’re failing, because connection is built over time, not measured in minutes,” she said.
“It’s a helpful guide for families, but it shouldn’t become something that dictates or pressures how we parent.”
CEO of the Australian Psychological Society Zena Burgess said the “importance of parents and caregivers spending quality time with their children cannot be overstated”.
“Being present and responsive to children, taking an interest in them, listening, playing and bonding with them can all help build trust, as well as a child’s self-esteem and their sense of security.
She said the 7-7-7 rule for parenting “isn’t a formally validated concept in psychology, and there’s no strong research base showing that those exact time blocks lead to better developmental outcomes”.
“That said, the idea can still be useful as a simple framework, especially for busy parents who want a reminder to carve out uninterrupted, intentional time with their children,” Dr Burgess said.
“At the same time, rigidly sticking to timed formulas won’t work for every family, and it can even create unnecessary pressure or guilt. What matters far more than hitting specific time targets is the quality of the interaction and being present, attentive and emotionally engaged, even in small, everyday moments,” she said.
Other versions of the 7-7-7 rule are being embraced by parents, including one which advises seven hugs, seven “I love you's and seven words of affirmation a day for seven days.
US father Ben Garseeya said the rule will “change your child’s life”.
“At the end of it you are not even going to recognise your kids”.
However, not all parents are fans of 7-7-7 trends, with @the_overstimulated_mum suggesting instead that “after playing for seven minutes with your kids” a mother should “spend seven minutes booking a girls’ trip and “f*** off for seven days without your kids online”.