Free Resources for Parents

Screen time can be a source of joy, connection, education, and relaxation for kids, AND most kids have way too much of it (6+ hours a day on average according to the CDC). Try to reduce it to a few hours hours a day, and keep screens out kid’s bedrooms at night to protect their sleep.

Chatting online can be a great way to strengthen friendships. When your kids first start chatting with friends, supervise the chats and teach them how to avoid miscommunications, when to chat in a group vs. privately, and to be careful and thoughtful when sharing content.

Chatting commonly starts in elementary school and is frequently the origin of these problems. Teach your kids to never share personal information online. Guide them to be inclusive and kind online as well as how to navigate bullying when they encounter or witness it. Discuss how appearances can be misconstrued online leading to unrealistic expectations.

Not all screen time is the same! Screen time can be beneficial for kids if the content is age-appropriate, longer-format and used in moderation. Choose programming together with your kid when possible. Our content rubric (available in our Free Parent Guidebook above) defines specific types of content we recommend limiting or avoiding in elementary school.

In the U.S., over 80% of kids are on YouTube and over 90% of kids play video games. While these can be great sources of education and entertainment, they can also be major contributors to excessive screen time and introduce serious risks - including inappropriate content and access to strangers. Careful management of the content and settings is critical.

The majority of kids see porn by age 12 and 15% see it by age 10, according to Common Sense Media. They are accessing this through search engines, group chats and social media.  Set up parental controls to block porn as soon as your kid is in elementary school. Our free parent guidebook above will walk you through it.

The vast majority of online enticement from strangers occurs through chat apps and social video games. Make sure you know who your kid is chatting with online. Take a few minutes to set up the parental controls on video games to block chats with strangers or only let your kid socially game with friends using non-game chat platforms you trust. Our free parent guidebook will walk you through it.

Social media apps are major access points to addictive, short-format, and often age-inappropriate content. Ensure your elementary school-aged kids aren’t setting up accounts on Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, etc. Hopefully, we can even delay them even longer but let’s regroup at the end of elementary school to reassess at a minimum.

Child-led play means unstructured play where the kid is picking and directing the activity. This type of play is incredibly important to our kids development and mental health, and we need to encourage and set the stage for more of it - be it alone or with siblings, friends, and neighbors. It can also help fill the gap when parents limit screen time.

Of course it depends the age and situation, but we generally encourage parents to give their kid more autonomy in the real world. There's never been a safer time to be a kid in America and giving kids more autonomy develops their resiliency and confidence.