School Breaks: Keeping Technology in Check
As another school break rolls around, we’re answering some commonly asked questions regarding screen time when not in school. But in reality, these questions hold true for every day. My children are at home by themselves while I am at work. How do I keep them off the internet all day long? First, children should […]
KonMari Your Media
Have you KonMari’d your house yet? If you haven’t heard, KonMari is latest craze sweeping the nation. You go through your stuff (which we all tend to have a lot of) and hold every item. Then, you take a moment to decide if the item you are holding sparks joy. Yes? Keep it. No? Toss […]
“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, […]
Is Your Child’s Smartphone their Best Friend?
There is great value in knowing who your adolescent child’s friends are. Most specifically, who they consider their best friend. In this relationship, they will be more influenced by them than by you. Your adolescent’s growing independence should never preclude you from knowing who or what holds this power of influence. You may not be […]
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 […]
Apple iOS 12 Parental Controls: Content & Privacy Restrictions
Apple’s iOS 12 introduced new parental control features called Screen Time, allowing for more granular limits and mindfulness of time spent. Before diving into these Content & Privacy Restrictions you’ll need to first install iOS 12 onto your phone or device. Then set up Screen Time for your child’s account on your phone. In the […]
Apple iOS 12 Parental Controls: Setting up Screen Time
Apple iOS 12 introduced the Screen Time features that can help parents and children with both limits and mindfulness. One new limit is “Downtime”, when a designated amount of apps are unavailable under password protection. Additionally, time limits for specific apps are also possible now. To promoting mindfulness, Screen Time tracks your phone usage – […]
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 […]
Always Available, Instant Communication is Hurting You: Here’s Five Ways to Change
I once asked a group of young middle school aged girls how they practiced patience with their smartphones. One girl proudly announced that she shows patience as she waits for the iMessage bubble indicating the other person is typing to display her newly received message. For many of us adults, this may be the extent […]
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 […]
Brave Parenting Q & A
On THURSDAY JUNE 28th at 8pm CST Brave Parenting Founder Kelly and her husband Ryan will be LIVE here at braveparenting.net and on Facebook [@braveparentingnetwork]. They will answer any of your Smartphone, Social Media, Internet, Boundaries, and Parenting questions. You can submit your questions in advance or during the live event. Kelly is the founder […]
Screens and Summer Webinar Recast
Do you long to feel like you have control over the screens in your home? SCREENS & SUMMER will teach you how to reclaim control of the screens and internet! This video isn’t about theoretical parenting. It’s not about having brave conversations with your kids (although those are important). It’s about how to actually safeguard, […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Growing Trend of “Random Video Chatting”: What Parents Need to Know
Everything online is moving towards video. Perhaps this is due to our plummeting attention spans or our lack of desire to read on a screen. More likely, however, it is because our brains are wired to appreciate and engage with moving, talking, breathing, humans instead of edited selfies. For children spending an increasing amount of […]
A Parent’s Guide to Shared Data (Not Just on Facebook)
Facebook has been collecting, using and selling our data. This is the new outrage. After discovering the data abuse of nearly 50 million Facebook profiles for political ends by Cambridge Analytica, the blind trust in the Social Networking giant has ended. News of Facebook’s practice of collecting phone and text data on Android phones added […]
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. […]
Why Sexual Predators Can Still Lurk on Social Media and Prey on Our Children
Which is more important to you as a parent: The government’s responsibility to protect vulnerable children from sex offenders or the constitutional right of free speech for sex offenders? Tough question. The US Supreme Court justices also thought so in 2017. The Post that Started It All In 2010 Lester Gerald Packingham entered a benign […]
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 […]