I live outside of Boston so you'd think it would be easier to keep my daughters active during the summer when the weather warms up. It helps, but not as much as you'd think. It rains a lot. And sometimes it gets too hot. Or, my girls just wake up so late that I am scrambling to get them up and out the door before the sun is completely gone. For me, keeping my girls active during the summer is just an extension of keeping them active all year. The key, I've found, is a routine

A couple notable studies regarding children and technology use were recently released. Both strongly suggest that when it comes to our kids and the time they spend engaging IRL (In Real Life) vs the time they spend gazing at screens…it's the screens that are winning. From Influence Central’s “Kids & Tech: The Evolution of Today’s Digital Natives” released in May we learned: The average age for getting a first phone is now 10.3 years old. The percentage of parents who impose s

I could feel my blood pressure rise a bit as I wondered if I should say something to my son. It was getting late and he was watching a video on his computer. "He's probably just wasting his time," I thought, "and it's my responsibility as his mom to help him manage his screen time." I took a deep breath. Working against my parental instinct to just shut his computer off and shoo him to bed, I asked him what he was watching. As it turns out, he was watching an educational hi

I’ve been spending a lot of time these days talking to parents about how technology and media are affecting their kids’ lives. What do I notice? Parents are fearful. They are overwhelmed. They are anxious. The worry list is long. I do notice an interesting shift though regarding the biggest fear. It used to be the focus of the fears had to do with cyberbullying, sexting, and predators. Although those fears still creep in, the biggest fear that most parents seem to have is the

So excited to share a wish from these Cyber Civics teachers at Central York Middle School, PA, who not only teach kids how to use technology well, but also how to balance it with REAL life. Thank you for all you do! Our Digital Wish is for ALL students to lead a healthy, balanced digital life in order to be more connected with the people who matter the most! Throughout the Fall, I would see six to ten children playing soccer in a dry water retention area on my drive home fro