While I do love the game for all the fun, challenge, creativity, and collaboration all it affords its players, I must admit that Minecraft is not one of my own go-to games. I struggle with the spatial rotation and 3D awareness it requires. But my daughter, six years old at...
Playing video games together as a family strengthens our connection and communication, reinforces essential social skills, and even helps with emotional regulation and the solidification of healthy digital habits. It also gives us a chance to model and develop digital literacy. Co-play, or playing video games together, is one of...
If TV, movies, or video games start to feel like the source of every family struggle, is it time to institute a screen-time ban? Or, could a higher level of management and curation be a better route? When screens become a daily tug-of-war — the arguing, the worrying, the constant negotiation...
Every parent knows the scene: your child melts down over a toy, a sibling squabble, or a sudden change of plans. Their little bodies and big emotions collide, and you’re left wondering how to guide them through it without losing your own cool. That’s where emotional regulation comes...
Alongside their ABCs and 123s, kids today are learning their DMPs: Digital, Media, and Platform Literacies. Of these three, you’re probably most familiar with digital literacy and least so with platform literacy. All are equally important and ultimately interconnected, so we’ll explain and integrate them all: * Digital literacy:...
Games don’t have to look like school to teach valuable lessons. Math, science, and reading might be what first come to mind when we think of educational video games for kids. But digital play can also teach other critical elements, like confidence, curiosity, and other life skills. If your...
Creativity isn’t something kids are simply born with. Some children might have a natural inclination toward imaginative play or artistic expression, but all children can learn to think creatively. It’s a skill, a special way of thinking, that develops through encouragement, repetition, and consistent freedom to explore. And...
Screens are often seen as “less than.” A less valuable use of our time. Facilitating less valuable relationships. Even less valuable learning. For whatever reason, screen-based activities are often treated as both separate from and “less than” everything else. If it happens on a screen, it is somehow less “real...
Why does screen time guilt hit so hard? We’ve all done it. Handed over the iPad so we could make a phone call, finish dinner, or just have five minutes to breathe (or go potty). Almost immediately, the guilt creeps in. Should I have read them a book instead?...