Setting a digital parenting goal for the new year
Like most of us, I’ve been thinking a lot about the new year. I’ve abandoned “resolutions” because they are a little too flaky for me. (Oh, and because I’ve never been successful with any that I’ve made.) Instead, I prefer to set goals for the new year and follow them up with a short […]
Are your kids really that tech savvy?
Of course, we all want our kids to be safe online. That’s a given. Wherever they are, whether online or offline, we want them to be safe and make safe choices. When they are on screens, we don’t want the boogeyman to get them while watching YouTube, or solicited in social media, or cyberbullied in […]
New screen time recommendations and tools from pediatricians
As digital parents, it’s probably the question we wrestle with the most. How much screen time? Of course, the answer always starts with those oh-so-unhelpful words: “It depends.” The child’s age. His or her temperament. The amount of time spent on other activities. The type or quality of screen time. And what if you have […]
3 things we miss when we don’t look up
A friend of mine recently had to have some pretty significant surgery. Fortunately he’s doing better now, but in preparation for the surgery, they hit one little hitch. They had trouble intubating him. In order to put a breathing tube in, medical staff have to bend the head back in an awkward angle. If the […]
8 digital world skills we must teach our children
In the opening years of the 21st Century, much of the conversation in education was trying to answer the question: What skills do our kids need for the rapidly-changing world they will inherit? Critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, information literacy, and other similar terms topped the lists. Now a decade and a half in, social media, […]
Ninja Google search skills every parent should know (to impress their kids)
There aren’t too many other tasks that shake our parental confidence quite like helping our kids with their homework. With me, I cringe every time they have to do “research”. Despite the fact that our children are likely being taught some good search skills in school, most likely they will just rely on a simple Google search […]
Talking to your child’s school about technology
A friend recently asked me about Google passwords. Another student in her daughter’s 4th grade class, she explained, had figured out her daughter’s password and had been posting junk on some of her documents. My friend spoke to staff at the school, the password was changed, and the problem seems to have stopped. But there were […]
Building a Safe, Healthy Digital Home, Part Four: Outside
Note: This is the fourth (and final) part of a series on Building a Safe and Healthy Digital Home. It wouldn’t be a complete tour if we didn’t step outside and look around… The Front Porch If the closet was the private part of our lives, the front porch is about as public as it […]
Building a Safe, Healthy Digital Home, Part Three: Upstairs
Note: This is the third part of a series on Building a Safe and Healthy Digital Home. It’s time to take a walk upstairs… The Bedroom To keep this to a PG-rating, we won’t talk about the parents’ bedroom here. (Though there is plenty of material on how technology is interrupting intimate time between them.) […]
Building a Safe, Healthy Digital Home, Part Two: Downstairs
Note: This is the second part of a series on Building a Safe and Healthy Digital Home. In this installment, we tour the first floor… The Dining Room There is no shortage of evidence that regular time around the dinner table–eating together, talking about our days–is a valuable element of healthy families. If there is […]