“That part is about me!” my youngest remarked proudly as we read our family poem out loud. Without hearing his name, he knew that the phrase “planetary sparkle” was his part of our story. We had just finished a personalized family poetry session with Spark & Stitch partner poet Diver Van Avery. It had begun… Read More →
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.
There are moments when I look at my phone and think, “What a time to be alive!” The device in my hand is one thousand times faster than the last generation’s supercomputers. Our lives benefit from this small device’s connection, information, and efficiency. There are other moments when I long to slow down all that… Read More →
“I wasn’t surprised that my kid looked at inappropriate content online. I know it comes with the territory,” a parent recently confided. “What upset me more is that he lied about it.” “This is always so tricky,” I sympathized. “We only see a little snapshot of what is going on. And it can be hard… Read More →
In the words of Adam Alter, when it comes to digital devices, “proximity is destiny.” In an ideal world we would all have the internal impulse control to make good choices about when to scroll and when to look up towards a family member or friend. Yet we know these internal skills are still developing… Read More →
I can still remember the poster hanging in my fourth-grade classroom. Against the backdrop of a star-studded night sky, a comet blazed across the image accompanied by text that read, “You can be a star!” As a child of the eighties, I grew up during the self-esteem movement. Posters, programs, and books consistently communicated, “‘If… Read More →
“But who is going to help her?” Jacob asked. Jacob was a seven-year-old we had just met on the playground. He, along with several other kids including one of my own, had been playing the tag game “Sandman” on the play structure. Suddenly one of the kids tried to take a shortcut off the side… Read More →
Mark Zuckerberg turned toward a group of grieving parents this week and issued a public apology. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” he said. “No one should go through what you and your families have suffered.” This latest admission at the Senate online child safety hearing was not the first time that Zuckerberg has… Read More →
“Hey, buddy?” I asked my then four-year-old. “Can you hear my voice?” “Uh-huh,” he answered without looking at me, absentmindedly grabbing a french fry from the plate in front of him without ever moving his eyes toward his meal. I moved my hands in front of his face to interrupt the spell cast over him… Read More →
If you have ever spent any time with a preschooler, you know that their curious minds are always active. “Why is that bird sitting on that branch? What do birds think about? Can birds understand us? Where are the other birds? Why? Where? How come?” While charming, these endless questions can also get exasperating. At… Read More →
