fbpx

Teenagers

Young child scrolling through cell phone app that uses persuasive design to shape the user's behavior

Persuasive Design and Growing Brains: Why It Can Be So Hard to Unplug

“I am going to be screen free tonight!” I say to myself with conviction. I am already looking forward to a calm and focused evening. “Anything I need to see on my phone can wait until tomorrow,” I think with confidence. I place my phone on the counter and open the back door to greet…  Read More

Teenager looking at her phone

For Teens, Digital Citizenship Takes Practice

“I just don’t get it!” sighed a parent I spoke to recently. “We’ve talked about this over and over again. She knows better!” He was referring to his daughter getting pulled into online conflict that had quickly escalated to the level of getting the school principal involved. If you are a parent of a teenager,…  Read More

Child experiencing anxiety and worry

Stress in Children

Helping Kids and Teens Handle Worry

I was recently asked to try to go back to my own childhood and try to remember the things that I worried most about when I was young. Closing my eyes, it didn’t take me long to channel my inner child and generate a robust list of worries that ranged from, “my basement” to, “an…  Read More

A teen and technology listening to headphones while on her phone

6 Common Worries About Technology and Teens

What's the Reality?

Technology and teens. If you are anything like me, on any given day you vacillate wildly between, “Technology is amazing! What a time to be alive!” and, “Throw. It. Out. The. Window.” Such is parenting life in the digital age. News headlines exacerbate our ambivalence. Media reports convince us that social media is the key…  Read More

Teenager laying on bed looking at cell phone with parental controls on it.

10 Tips for Building Trust With Parental Controls

It doesn’t work well to install parental controls, close our eyes, cross our fingers, and hope for digital greatness. How we use parental controls has a huge impact on whether or not they are effective in helping our kids build digital skills and whether or not they build or erode trust.

Elementary age child crossing his arms and looking angry

Anger Management is a Big Part of Parenting, So How Do We Do It?

From Calm to Chaos The sun rises, your alarm rings, you roll out of bed and find your way to your first mug of coffee (Not a coffee person? Imagine tea instead). The birds are singing. The world feels full of possibility. You take a deep breath, committed to starting your parenting day with smooth…  Read More

Two children laying on rug playing video games together.

When Are Video Games Good for Kids?

“Yeeessss! There’s going to be another Fortnite Day!” I heard a child exclaim in the hallway of my kids’ school last month. Confused, I turned to a teacher for an explanation. He responded “I think they mean snow day…” The kids were eagerly anticipating yet another giant storm (yes, we live in Minnesota and yes,…  Read More