I am not by ANY means suggesting that you go white-knuckle, COVID-lockdown-style and just wake up on a Sunday with no plans and tell your screen fans to “go play.” That, my friends, is a recipe for a trainwreck crashing into a dumpster fire.
Start small.
You’re not doing this as punishment. You’re doing this for the benefits. And after a few weeks, I promise you’ll crave your Sundays.
Put these screen-free gifts on your list and be the best Easter Bunny ever!
Entertain kids in the car, on an airplane, during church, on a zoom call, at a restaurant, while you’re trying to shower…
Fall is here! It’s time to cuddle up with your favorite kiddos and read some fun not-so-spooky stories. Here’s our list of Top 5 Halloween books to read with your kids!
You say: I don’t cook… I don’t have a partner….My kids won’t sit still! Worry not, I’ve got you covered!
Because what else can you do in 30 minutes per day that will improve your kids cardiovascular health, increase self-esteem, improve academic performance, reduce risk of substance abuse, depression, obesity, and teen pregnancy? Nothing I know of!
Doing the same thing again and again? It’s stored as only one memory!
“Our brain is trying to preserve energy when it can. And what we know is that if any memory is similar, it is stored as one memory in our head when we look back at things,” says Dr. Mike Rucker Ph.D on the 1000 Hours Outside podcast.
Did I read that right!? If you do the same thing again and again you’ll save only ONE memory of that activity…
Reading to children is one of the best things you can do for their brain, language skills, and relationship with you. Plus it’s so wonderful to cuddle on the couch with your favorite book! Here are the ten best kids books around:
The Library Lion
Harry The Dirty Dog
Corduroy
And more…
What if they have gotten so used to watching fast-paced Youtube stunt shows that everything else on Planet Earth seems BORRRINNGGG?!
Start small.
Here are over 30 ideas of games a child can play by herself, games for groups, games with props, and games without. Plus lots of toy ideas as well.
Play doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive…
Jonathan Haidt’s excellent book “The Anxious Generation” argues that the play-based childhood of our youth has been replaced with the phone-based childhood of now, and it’s not good. No bueno. Negatory, good buddy.
But there’s hope!
Haidt puts forth 4 things we can all do to get our children back (and get them some bonna fide childhoods instead of the hot garbage they’re living on TicTok.)
No smartphones before high school.
No social media before 16.
Phone-free schools.
Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence…
Has the iPad become your babysitter? Do you want to reduce screen time but the idea of completely screen free kids terrifies you? Consider the following:
Your young daughter has been watching her iPad for way longer than you intended, which has devolved into trolling the dark web, and now you’re trying to get her to turn it off before bedtime.
It’s getting ugly.
Like, “sweating off your glitter mascara while barfing in a hot porta-potty at Coachella” ugly.
