Thinking parenting Blog
Are smartphones harmful to teens?
Many parents feel instinctively that phones are somehow not 100% good for our teens. We worry that their constant checking, selfie-posting phone habit might be damaging their physical health, their...
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...
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...
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 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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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 –...
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...
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...