Parenting a teen in the digital age can be daunting. After all, most of us grew up without cell phones or social media (I, personally, am old enough to remember the thrill of getting dial-up internet in middle school), so that means we’re the first generation to have to monitor our kids’ online lives without role models for reference. We’re exploring uncharted territory, finding the balance between starting to allow our teens access to the same apps we scroll daily (like TikTok) while also wanting fiercely to protect their privacy and teach them about staying safe online. While the average...
Kids & Phones: An Age-By-Age Guide For Establishing Boundaries
— Ariela Basson/Scary Mommy; Getty Images, Shutterstock We all hope our kids inherit our best genes, but there’s no question that they also pick up our worst habits — including our digital dependencies. After all, adults know as well as children that when phone screens compete for attention, they win every time. So, what’s a parent to do? “Some overarching rules are essential for all kids,” says Laura Ordoñez, executive editor and head of digital media and family advice at Common Sense Media, a non-profit that assesses kids’ content and works to make media and technology safer, healthier, and more...
The Two-Year Age Gap Is The Absolute Worst
— Catherine Falls Commercial/Moment/Getty Images I remember watching my firstborn son waddle around the beach a few weeks after his first birthday. He wandered around the sand a bit before making his way over to a pair of brothers who were building a sandcastle. The scene was one from a storybook: mom and dad sitting in their chairs enjoying some light conversation while their two sons, around 4 and 6 years old, worked together to create a creative and well-structured castle as they smiled and laughed. At that moment, the baby fever crept its way in, and I thought to...
How Girl Scouts Of The USA Is Helping Girls Through The Loneliness Epidemic
Lots of parents have experience with their own mental health struggles, including the loneliness that comes with raising children. And if feeling alone is a difficult thing for grown-ups to reckon with — especially in an increasingly online, post-pandemic world — it’s an even more harsh experience for our children. This is especially true for our daughters. New research from Girl Scouts of the USA shows that the loneliness epidemic is beginning to impact girls as young as 5 years old. In a nationally representative survey of 1,000 American girls ages 5 to 13, the organization found that nearly 70...