Best video game review sites for parents
If you have a gamer in the house, do you know exactly what they are playing? Since you can only gather so much from the box cover or screenshots, you may feel in the dark about the games that consume so much of their time and attention. And if you aren’t a gamer yourself (or, […]
18 fun family activity ideas combining technology and family time
Ironically, if you search online for family activity ideas, you’ll find a ton of ideas about how to “unplug” and have “tech-free family time”. But don’t we already know how to do that? Is that what most of us have grown up with? Sure, we might need reminders in our busy digital lives: Play a […]
7 considerations when buying tech gifts for your child
It’s that time of year again. Your child has latched onto the dream of owning their very own fill-in-the-blank-device, and they’ve begun their campaign to convince you that they neeeed one or they will be the laughing stock of all their friends. Suddenly, these beautiful children that you brought into the world, who can’t put […]
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 […]
That one summer we let our kids have too much screen time
So, once again, our names have been left off the nomination list for Parents of the Year. This summer, our boys spent way too much time on their devices. What often began as “an hour” would turn into a whole morning. On road trips, the alternating hour-on-hour-off quickly went out the car window. The encouragement […]
What parents can learn from an educational technology conference
Every year, thousands of teachers, administrators, and companies gather for an enormous educational technology conference to learn and share the latest in tech and teaching trends. This year, I was fortunate to join 18,000 educators in Denver, CO, to see the latest innovative ideas, gadgets, and services making their way into classrooms. With over 1200 […]
Are my kids addicted to technology?
Can our children actually be addicted to technology? This is a question I’ve been wrestling with lately, so when CommonSenseMedia released the results of a recent study they conducted, I was intrigued. Survey Says… They asked more than 1200 parents and their teens about their own tech use and their perceptions of other family members. […]
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, […]