Screen Time In The Mean Time

Screens are everywhere, all of the time. They make life easier in so many ways. But for parents, managing screen use is a huge challenge. For the first time in history, parenting is a full-time occupation. We are expected to faithfully care for and entertain our kids most of our waking hours, without complaint and with few supportive resources. It¿s simply not possible to keep kids busy all of the time. So, we allow them to play games, text, watch videos, facetime, and use social media¿too often. Even our toddlers beg to play on mobile tablets and smartphones. But we worry about it. We hear news stories that say screens are rewiring our brains and offering an unmonitored portal for sexual predators. We see that our kids are using screens compulsively, distracted from the real world. We worry that screens are a drug, and we¿ve enabled addictive behaviors by handing them over. But strict management just isn¿t possible considering our kids need screens for school, to interact with their friends, and for edutainment. What are we to do?Dr. Bennett is a clinical psychologist and founder of GetKidsInternetSafe. Having raised one young adult and still with two teens at home, she recognizes that screens are a necessary part of everyday family life. In her work with families for over twenty years, she has created sensible screen safety parenting hacks that work. Screen Time in the Mean Time is the thinking-parent¿s-guide to screen safety, written with a warm, relatable voice that is more practical than preachy. There are no scare tactics here. Instead, she offers a refreshingly real-world perspective on child and brain development and the risks and benefits of screen use. Her easily doable parenting strategies guide parents of toddlers to teens, step-by-step for confident screen management.