“When do you think kids should have access to social media?” a parent recently asked during a workshop. Before she could help herself, another parent nearby responded quietly, “When they are twenty-five.” Another parent chimed in more confidently, “Never.” This sparked knowing laughter from the entire crowd. It turns out that both of these parents’… Read More →
Last week I was scrolling through TikTok after a friend sent me a video of a hedgehog taking a bath (a video experience I highly recommend). Just as I was working to pull away from the algorithm-induced vortex, another video caught my attention. A young man facing the camera was pointing to a list of… Read More →
“When did you start talking to your kids about online porn?” a friend recently asked me, wincing a bit at the prospect of embarking on the conversations herself someday. My face likely mirrored a similar set of tortured emotions as I responded, “Much earlier than I would have liked to. But when you look at… Read More →
1. Why Forecasting Emotions Can Help Kids Handle Them When we hit a rocky spot, it is certainly tempting as parents to hope that tomorrow will be a better day. Thankfully, we are often right! Sometimes all it takes is a good night’s sleep to increase our kids’ capacity to handle what comes their way.… Read More →
“Hm hmmm?” I said, vaguely attending to my youngest child’s in-depth description of what features he would add to a Minecraft realm if given full coding control. My attention was split between his description (which could go on without end) and scrolling through a headline a friend had texted me. Actually I hadn’t made a… Read More →
“Your turn!” one of my kids shouted to the other. I looked over to the kitchen table to see that they were engaged in one one of the many card games they had picked up at school. Buoyed by the warm glow of sibling cooperation, I turned to go upstairs. It turns out that the… Read More →
“I try to have a positive attitude about it and give him a fresh start,” a parent recently shared with me. “But it seems like every day there is a blow up when it’s time to stop gaming. It’s miserable.” “Ugh. That sounds so hard,” I responded picturing similar scenes playing out in my own… Read More →
We all have well rehearsed parenting phrases that emerge at different stages in our kids’ lives. Usually they pop into our heads or out of our mouths before we’ve even had time to think them through. You aren’t alone if the dominant phrase during middle and high school is, “PUT. THAT. [INSERT TECH DEVICE]. DOWN.”… Read More →
“Wait,” my oldest recently interrupted me. “Aren’t you supposed to be lending me your ears?” “What?” I responded, annoyed at being interrupted but also momentarily distracted by the image of handing over something akin to the fake rubber yoda ears shoved into our costume bin in the basement. In the time it took me to… Read More →
“How was your day, buddy?” I asked my third grader after his first day of school. “Thumbs up, down, or something in between?” I prompted. He put his thumb sideways and kept walking without a word. This kind of ambiguity is challenging for us parents. I managed to respond with a simple, “That makes sense,”… Read More →
