I hope your Back-to-School season is treating you well. I’ve got two tips for you today, both related to preventing the downsides of a “phone-based childhood.”
1. What’s Your Screen Time Plan this Year?
This is a simple tip: If you don’t have a screen time plan for the school year, it’s time to make one.
And to make it as effective as possible, here are a few sub-tips to keep in mind:
Collaborate: Include your children in the decision-making process. Use empathetic dialogue and flexibility to come up with a win-win agreement – no matter how old they are.
Post: Write your plan nicely and big, and put it somewhere that everyone can see.
Iterate: If it’s not working, don’t call it a FAIL. Call it a “learning opportunity.” Go back to the drawing board and keep working as a team until you find what sticks.
And let me know how it goes or if you need advice for when this doesn’t work. Some parents need support when kids just won’t turn off their devices when they say they will. That’s okay. We just need a more customized solution that teaches skills and accounts for unique challenges.
2. Join us for “The Anxious Generation”
We’re discussing “The Anxious Generation” at our next event and you’re invited!
If you’re anxious about reading this book, this event was MADE FOR YOU! I put it off for a long time but I read it and it was worth it.
At our meeting:
We’ll grapple with the unique challenges that boys born after 2007 face in today’s digital world.
- We’ll discuss the key takeaway from the book: how we overprotect kids offline and underprotect them online.
- We’ll hear a personal account from one mom whose teen son reached out for help and how she responded.
- We’ll create a safe space to share our own anxieties and fears about parenting this generation of kids.
No time to read? No problem. I’ll send you an article and podcast to get you up to speed for the discussion. This book makes a clear call to action and breaks down the impact of a phone-based childhood on girls vs. boys.
Overall, I hope you’ll walk away with new insights and a new mindset around your son’s digital world so you can help him stay confident, grounded, and connected to reality, whether that’s in the real world or the digital world.
Girl moms welcome too.
Registration required. Click here to register!