TikTok Pretty much every parent I’ve met (myself included) likes to avoid punishing their kids whenever possible. It doesn’t feel good. That said, I don’t think I’ve ever met a parent who’s never punished their kids at all. It’s the ideal, sure, but it’s hard to actually pull off. (We are, despite what our children...
Category: family life
Teens Are Turning To "AI Companions" For Advice & Flirting (But Don't Panic Yet)
martin-dm/E+/Getty Images If you’re an Elder Millennial, then you probably remember Eliza and Smarter Child, some of the OG chatbots. There’s also a good chance that you and a couple friends gathered around a family computer at some point and started “talking” to one of them. But since they were primitive, conversations were bland and...
Which Back-To-School "Essentials" Are This Year's Stanley Tumblers?
When I texted my 12-year-old niece to ask what the cool kids want when they head back to school, approximately one millisecond elapsed before her three dots popped up, indicating a speedy response on its way. “Everyone wants an Owala,” she declared, and I read it in Miranda Priestley’s “oh, you sweet summer child” tone...
Should My Tween Have A Phone Or A Watch? Experts Weigh In
Natalia Lebedinskaia/Moment/Getty Images I’ve been worried about my kids and technology ever since I was pregnant with my first in 2013. When they’re little, you worry about screen time and educational programming and not rotting out their tiny little imaginative brains with Netflix. As they grow, you worry about cyberbullying and online predators and social...



