One Simple Thing: Monthly Parenting Challenges for a Happier, More Connected Family
Each month this year, I’m sharing One Simple Thing to try to create a happier, more connected family! January: Daily Family Sharing February: Calm the Morning Chaos March: Discovering Your “Authentic” Self April: How to get Closer to your Kid in 5 Minutes a Day May: 3 Reasons to Give Your Kid a “WOW” Today:…
READ MORE
How to Have a Closer Family in 5 Minutes a Day
Those of you who’ve been loyal readers know one of my favorite connection tips (besides unplugging), honed over years of practice around campfires at summer camp and family dinners: DAILY SHARING! Find a time each day – dinner or bedtime are often good times to set up a consistent sharing practice – to spend just…
READ MORE
Ep. 19: Being a “Tech Positive” Parent with Devorah Heitner
Earlier this year, I devoured Devorah Heitner’s book Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World during a single plane trip. Heitner’s insights changed my previously (and very opinionated) negative view of my kids’ screen use. I highly recommend all parents read Screenwise, as the book provides new insights into our kids’ digital world and helps parents…
READ MORE
Connection Through Questions
If you were to ask me the most important thing parents can provide their children, camp counselors can provide campers, and teachers can provide students, I can sum it up with one word. Connection. Building a relationship and connecting with kids—while also helping them learn to connect with each other and form friendships—is the most…
READ MORE
Book Review: Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking and Health
This is a guest post from Leslie Seidner, a writer who researches and writes about positive psychology, anxiety, and brain health. She also happens to be my sister and favorite person to talk about books with! I have been stressing about the effect that stress is having on my brain, which I realize is wholly…
READ MORE
Ep. 17: Unplugged Middle School Lunch with Rebecca Gogel
Inspired by this article, as well as my personal connection to her school, I recently got in touch with Corona del Mar Middle School Principal Rebecca “Becky” Gogel to talk about her new phone-free lunch policy, implemented at the start of the 2017-2018 school year. Becky is in her third year leading CDM Middle School…
READ MORE
Too Much Screen Time? 4 Ways Summer Camp Can Help
I’ve learned to face my fears, I’ve tried new things, and I have learned that you don’t always need to have your phone or video games. -Kimberly, Camper Children between eight and ten years old currently spend nearly eight hours a day on media. Adolescents average nearly eleven hours per day, seven days a week,…
READ MORE
The Four Tendencies: An Obliger’s Story
I’ve been enjoying Gretchen Rubin’s books since my oldest daughter (also named Gretchen) gave me The Happiness Project (Revised Edition): Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun several years ago. I listen to Rubin’s podcast (Happier) and subscribe to…
READ MORE
Why We Need to Unplug to Connect with Our Families
I’ve been following the trends and research about screen use and have long been an advocate of unplugging. I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of unplugging each summer at camp and have fought back in my own family to rescue us from being sucked into our screens 24/7. Yet I’ve still struggled with myself and my…
READ MORE
Learning To Put My Own Oxygen Mask On First
Last week I did something unheard of during my first 32 years as a camp director. I took a full day off during the very first week of camp. On my day off, I did several things that “refueled” me: I took a long hike by myself. I took some long, deep breaths. I finished…
READ MORE
11 Ways to Help Kids Create REAL Connections
A 75 year longitudinal study of adult development at Harvard Medical School had two main findings. Researchers George Vaillant and Sheldon Glueck determined that “good relationships”—not wealth or accolades or privilege—“keep us happier and healthier.” Their second, almost tongue-in-cheek finding was that “if alcoholism is not the root of all evil, it is closely correlated…
READ MORE
10 Lessons for Parents Raising Children in a Digital World
Those of you who’ve been hanging around Sunshine Parenting for a while know how much I love to research and talk about the benefits of getting unplugged. Getting off our screens and more focused on face-to-face relationships is a topic I’m passionate about, especially as I’ve focused on how we can coach our kids to…
READ MORE