146: Childhood Unplugged. With Katherine Martinko

The Art of Parenting

Is your child's screen time stealing precious moments? Listen in as my guest, Katherine Martinko, shares how to unplug and reclaim childhood. Click here for the show notes and extra resources.

What We Talked About:

• Katherine’s desire to write her book “Childhood Unplugged.”’

• The effects of excessive screen time have on our children's development and mental health

• Navigating digital media use and fostering offline activities

• Setting boundaries around screen time and social media use.

• Modeling appropriate use of our digital devices to shape healthy screen habits for our children.

• Alternative communication methods and developing human communication skills

Things to Remember

“Parenting is about conveying the principles that you believe to be the most important in life to your children and setting them off in the world on the right foot and watching them succeed.”

“The benefits of having a smartphone simply do not outweigh the cons.”

“Handling a smartphone is on par with handling a car. Kids need that level of responsibility and emotional maturity to do it.”

“When you give kids responsibilities around the house, they have less time to hang out in their bedrooms, scroll on their phones, or play video games.”

“We're too caught up with the idea that just because this technology is new and exciting, it is, therefore, good, but we're losing a lot in the process.”

“It is up to us as parents to protect our children from the negative effects of this highly addictive substance the same way that we would limit our children's access to drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.”

“We promote better independence in children if you're not surveilling them.”

-Katherine Martinko

“Technology is taking us to a place where children are forgetting to play. We need to rescue childhood.” - Mariana Carazo

Click here for the show notes and extra resources.