Screen Time Standards During COVID-19 Captivity
The standards you live by are important. They are like the bones of the body, which keeps it supported and structured. Imagine the floppy mess we’d be without bones. While bones and structure are essential for a functioning body, they are not what keeps us alive. It is our relationships that is the heartbeat of […]
The Remind App: More Than Just Convenience?
As school goes back across the country, the Remind app (formerly Remind 101) claimed a temporary position as the #1 Free App in the iTunes app store. It’s easy to assume apps and services like Remind are required for students and parents, as so many teachers are integrating smart technology and conveniences into their classrooms. […]
If It’s Between YouTube and Me – Pick Me!
In the minute it took to click the link to this article and begin reading, 400 hours of videos were uploaded to YouTube. YouTube is engaging its viewers intently across 91 countries and 80 different languages. In a calendar year, people watch 46,000 years worth of content. The enormity of that volume can barely be […]
“LIVE LISTEN”: The Eavesdropping iPhone Feature & What Parents Do Next
Every new, expanded feature in tech has both the potential for BENEFIT and the potential for HARM. Apps and websites meant to positively connect people are also used to spread hate, plan crimes, or connect predators to their victims. Smart technology can make our home entertainment options vast and convenient. That same smart technology, however, […]
Why Everyone Needs a Phone Basket
Every year we host a “Christmas Cookie and Hot Coco” party for our middle school aged children. It all began because Grandma, a Cambridge Culinary School trained chef, loves to bake dozens upon dozens of extravagant Christmas cookies for the kids to indulge in. Not wanting our kids to eat them all, we invited all […]
Inside Instagram: What Every Parent Needs to Know [VIDEO]
Back in 2017 we published an article: What Every Parent Needs to Know About the Updated Instagram. To this day, it stands as our most popular article reaching over 550,000 people. Parents are rising up in bravery and making informed decisions about how their children engage online – this is great! In the time since […]
Neglect Your Phone (Not Your Child)
You probably think your teen spends too much time on their phone. A majority of parents (72%) feel this way according to new research.[1] And…over half of teens (52%) AGREE they spend too much time on their smartphone. Your child probably thinks YOU spend too much time on your phone. Over half of teens (51%) […]
Parenting Fail: A Smartphone Will Make You Happy
“If you loved me, you’d want me to be happy!” How many parents throughout the generations have heard their child cry this desperate song? It is a whine as old as time and one that parents have wisely dismissed. But then the smartphone was released. Around 2012, the age of ownership began a steady decline […]
Grandparenting in the Digital Age: What Grandchildren Actually Need (hint: it’s not your smartphone)
Earlier this year, I joined the ranks of the white-haired, wise sages who’ve gone before me: Grandparents. Except, I am neither white-haired nor do I possess the wisdom of a sage. I am a Gen X-er who is barely hanging onto my thirties and still raising six children in my home. Other than my thoughtful […]
Put Down Your Screens! It’s Time to Read. [Summer Book List]
If you can read this coherently, then you have survived yet another school year! Congratulations! It’s time to throw off the burdens of homework, projects, and the dreaded pick-up line. Maybe you have a ton of things planned this summer, or perhaps your only goal is to survive. Either way, one of the best things […]
Are You Sharing Too Much of Your Kids? [What to Consider Before Posting]
I was nineteen years old when I received my first (and only) debt collection call. The man calling knew everything about me, and with authority, was set to collect on my unpaid debt. Except, the debt was from seven years earlier – when I was twelve. And the line of credit was opened with a […]
Can I Have My Own YouTube Channel? 5 Questions to Ask Your Child Before Answering
Back in the early 90’s, I was a freshmen in high school and obsessed with the first reality television show of its kind, MTV’s: The Real World. One night my friend and I borrowed her Dad’s VHS camcorder and filmed our own version of this iconic reality show. Recorded entirely in my friend’s basement, it […]
Home Smartphones: The Better Alternative For Young Children
Remember the days when you stretched out every curl from the tethered phone cord in desperate attempt to talk to your friends away from listening ears? Or maybe you recall arguing with your sibling as they continued to pick up another house phone during your call. These are the sweet and precious memories of home […]
5 Reasons Why No Child Needs Snapchat
Everyone parenting in our Snapchat society can probably identify with one of these FOUR places: You are preparing for the adolescent/teen years when your child will ask for Snapchat. Your child has already asked for Snapchat and you are currently debating whether to allow it. You’ve allowed Snapchat, you don’t like it, and you need […]
LEGO Life App and The Slow Death of Childhood Play
Late one evening in 1999, I made a late-night Wal-Mart run with some college friends. This trip is only memorable because it was the first time I saw a man ecstatic about buying LEGO sets. His smile spread and his eyes glistened with joy as he found the display of newly released Star Wars LEGO sets. […]
How to Wean Your Child Off Social Media
You said yes to the social media app. So many of your kid’s friends use this app so it seemed like the right thing to do (I’m the only person in the school without it!), but now you regret allowing it. The constant selfies, the never-ending checking, viewing, responding, checking, checking, checking. It’s like they […]
Love is NOT an Unrestricted Smartphone
A recent study by Pew Research Group showed that only 16% of parents use parental controls to restrict their child’s cell or smart phone. To restate this in a more obvious and ominous way: 84% of parents DO NOT USE parental controls to restrict phone usage. As a parent in the 16% I assume this […]
What Every Parent Needs to Learn from Recent SWATting Tragedy
In late December 2017, a news story out of Wichita, Kansas brought a growing issue into full light: SWATting. While this may seem like an issue for large cities or a crime-riddled subculture not affecting the average family, there are valuable lessons every parent and child can learn from this story. “SWATting” SWATting refers to […]
How Brave Faith Changes Children
Brave Parenting welcomes guest writers to share their stories and testimonies of parenting bravely with our community. Today we welcome Anika Ortiz, a mother of three from West Linn, OR. Connect with Anika: anikaortiz.com One of the greatest gifts we offer our children is the opportunity to move beyond their comfort zones into the expanse […]
Outsourcing Your Role as a Parent
“Honestly, I don’t know what I would do.” This was an honest confession from my neighbor about kids and screens. She and I were sitting on my front porch in the sweltering Texas heat. Jeanne is wise in her years, especially after raising 4 children as a single mother. But, the one feeling that came […]
It Starts with Dinner: Phones Off the Table
Over the past ten years our culture has allowed for a seismic shift in acceptable and respectful behavior between people. Phubbing, sharenting, exposing, roasting, and sexting are now everyday, household behaviors. We’ve been swept off our feet from a tsunami of smartphones. Everyone now seems to be clinging to their devices for dear life. The […]