When they ask for one more reel

Around 9 and 10, 'one more' stops being a cute stall and becomes the evening. Kabir is 9, with Papa. He can hold a plot. He can also feel the pull of a short video that ends by offering another. Scrolley is that pull, drawn as a character. Minie is the brown myna and the story. You still have to be the adult who ends it.

Say this in daylight first

Night is a bad time to invent a rule. In the afternoon, agree: one named video or one story, then the device leaves the room. When the ask comes, repeat the sentence you already agreed. Do not add a speech about their brain. Do not call them addicted. Offer the story if the story was the plan. If something they saw upset them, talk about that. A story is not a counselling session, and Hey Minie is not a therapist or a friend who keeps secrets.

Make the ending visible

• The phone goes to a shelf they can see, not under a pillow.
• Or the story plays on the TV, paired by QR, and the phone stays with you.
• Child lock holds the Hey Minie session until your fingerprint or password. Use it as a boundary, not as a surprise.
• One question after the story: what would you have done? Then lights.
• Read ages 9 to 10 if the tone of younger stories is starting to irritate them.

The line to keep is active, not passive. They spoke. They chose. It finished. That is a different evening from a queue, even if both used a screen.