Blog
Raising Your Child in a Digital World - Essential tips from my book
Want to ditch your techno guilt and take the guesswork out of raising young kids in a digital age?
My blog posts below will help to eradicate your digital dilemmas.
The Naked Truth: Kids, Teens, Pornography and Screens
WARNING- Content is this blog post may distress some readers. It addresses the issue of pornography. Pornpgraphy isn’t new. In years gone by pornography was available to young people via Playboy magazines (‘hidden’ at the back of the local newsagents), or via VHS videos and more recently via DVDs. What’s new however, is […]
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What ‘free’ apps for preschoolers really cost
A 2018 study examined 135 popular free and paid apps for kids under 5 years, the majority of which were downloaded more than 10 million times each and some upwards of 50 million times and found that 95% of such apps included at least one type of advertising, some of which are embedded in games […]
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Five Tips to Tame Students’ Attention
Gaining and sustaining students’ attention in today’s classroom is hard. Really hard. Teachers are increasingly reporting that students (both at a primary and secondary level) are finding it more challenging to manage their attention spans. Technology is one of the chief reasons why today’s students are finding it hard to pay attention in class and […]
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Five Simple Ways to Protect our Digital Health
Employees and executives are spending more and more time plugged into our digital devices. We rely on technology for our work (and play too). This increased time spent with technology is having a significant and cumulative impact on our physical health (and also our mental health too). We’re only just starting to realise some of […]
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The Costs of Digital Distractions
Today’s employees and executives are working in a world where they’re experiencing constant digital distractions. Email alerts, phone notifications, auto-play videos, phone calls and messages 24/7, curated social media feeds and targeted ads are just some of the many ways that they’re being digitally bombarded. Our digital dependence and habits are changing our attention, compromising […]
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What’s all the fuss about Fortnite?
I want to write about the dreaded ‘f’ word that’s causing angst in many families. Fortnite! (Not that word!) In the last couple months, I’ve been inundated with questions from parents both online and during my Parent Seminars about the game Fortnite. There have been numerous blog posts written and also shared on social media […]
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What my miscarriage taught me about my phone
I’ve been tentative about sharing this blog post, but I figure that my story and insights may help other people. Earlier this year I experienced a miscarriage. It was devastating to say the very least. My family and I were heart-broken. I only feel like I can now talk about this publicly. I wasn’t nervous […]
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Updated Screen time Guidelines: What Parents Really Need to Know
One of the universal digital dilemmas facing modern parents today is how much screen time is healthy or harmful? This is a question nearly every parent I meet wrestles with, as we’re given such conflicting and inconsistent advice when it comes to screen time. New Australian Guidelines On 21st November 2017, the Australian Department of […]
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Safe screen ideas for kids before bed
In the Parent Seminars I deliver, I suggest that parents establish a ‘digital curfew’ so that technology doesn’t interfere with kids’ sleep. Ideally, 90 minutes before your child sleeps is recommended to be screen-free, but even 30 or 60-minutes screen-free before bed will make a difference to kids’ sleep. There are two prime reasons for […]
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Sharenting- what parents need to consider before sharing pictures of their kids
We’ve been inundated with expert opinions on young kids and adolescents using social media- when is it okay to introduce social media, how do we protect their privacy and how is it impacting on them emotionally and socially? But what many of us have failed to consider is how we as parents use social media […]
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Kids, sleep and screens- what parents need to know
Is your child’s screen-time sabotaging their sleep? Today’s kids are spending more and more time with screens and often before bed. Many of us know that this digital habit can impact both the quality and quantity of their sleep, but we often find this habit hard to change (and for some families it’s simply a […]
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Plugged-in parenting: are we addicted to our smartphones? (Part 2)
Why do our screens captivate us? In an earlier blog post I explained the impact of parents spending increasing amounts of time plugged into our devices. It seems that we’ve become so focused on our kids’ screen-time that we’ve completely overlooked our screen habits. After I deliver many parent seminars, parents confess that they thought […]
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