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How to parent smarter not harder.

Photo of smiling teenage girl in the mountains to illustrate article on 10 ideas for tempting teens off tech in the school holidays

Top 10 ideas for tempting teens off tech in the school holidays

School holidays can be a nightmare for parents of teenagers. Teens are too old to be parked in childcare but they can’t always be trusted to make great decisions about how they spend their...

Photo of mum sitting next to young child both looking at an ipad to illustrate article on ensuring a blanced childhood in the digital age

Ensuring a balanced childhood in the digital age

Now, I am in no way anti-screens. As a parent, technology has been invaluable for helping my children learn, keeping them entertained, staying in touch with distant family and keeping them safe when...

20 Exercise Ideas for Tweens (8-11yrs)

If you are worried that your child’s physical fitness levels plummeted during lockdown, you are not alone. Lots of parents report struggling to keep children physically active when so many...

photo of child playing on phone to illustrate blog by parenting expert Anita Cleare on How much tech time is too much tech time?

How much tech time is too much tech time?

“How much tech time is too much tech time?” is one of the questions I am most frequently asked by parents. The potential impacts of excessive screen time has been a big concern for...

20 low tech family tog post by parenting expert Anita Cleare (photo of kids in the woods)

20 low tech family time ideas

The coronavirus restrictions resulted in a surge in screen time for children and teenagers. Online schooling, plus reduced opportunities for socialising and the closure of many venues, left parents...

Book cover of The Board Game Family by Ellie Dix

Book Review: The Board Game Family, by Ellie Dix

*This review contains affiliate links If you are looking for a way to tear your kids away from their tablets and consoles in order to have some quality family time, then board games are a great...

photo of dice - a brilliant idea for a kids boredom kit!

What’s in your Kids Boredom Kit?

When my children were little I didn’t have a mobile phone. Smartphones hadn’t been invented. (Wow that makes me feel old!). When we were out and about, there wasn’t the option to...

photo of bored child - but boredom is good for children!

Why boredom is good for children

Boredom is good for children because it stimulates curiosity and fires the imagination. At its best, boredom is a creative state that leads to new ideas and new play. And we know that good quality...

Talking to teenagers about porn

You might not want to hear this. If you have a child aged 11-16 years, it is highly likely they have already viewed pornography online. The majority of that age group have watched porn. Almost all of...

Advice for keeping children safe online

Managing children’s online activities and digital experiences is a huge part of modern parenting. There are lots of positive parenting strategies that can help you set time limits around your...

Positive Parenting in the Digital Age

Concerns about managing children’s screen time and the impacts of technology on children’s wellbeing are high on the worry list for modern parents. But most advice on positive parenting...

photo of three happy teens to illustrate article on fun family weekends

Fun family weekends to tear teens away from tech

Sometimes, if you want to tear teens away from their tech and grab some quality family time, the best plan is to get them out of the house for the whole weekend and as far away as possible from the...

fun family activities

More fun family activities to tear teens away from tech

My mission to find new ways to entice my teenagers to make more time for family activities (and less time for tech) continues. Now that the weather is warming up, the options are widening –...

photo of hand signing behaviour contract

Using a behaviour contract with teenagers

Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of reward charts. They help children to focus on the behaviour that is expected from them and they remind parents to catch their children being good and...

photo of smiling teenager to illustrate article on fun family activities

Fun family activities to tear tweens/teens away from technology

Like many people, I worry about my teens spending too much time staring at a screen. As a family, we are all pretty active but we tend to do our sports separately rather than together. We usually...