Plain and simple, there is one thing I recommend doing during the holidays for love and laughter. Bring out old photo albums and put them in a high-trafficked spot in your home — be it the kitchen table or a table in a living room. I predict we won’t have photo albums in the future, but we do right now.
Just as fun, bring out old boxes of photos. If you don’t have actual photos, digital ones will work too.
I love how I spent considerable time trying to make cute albums, and yet the “reject” photos in boxes seem to be the big hits much of the time. (It reminds me of Instagram images vs. the more real ones of Snapchat, which many teens tell me they prefer over more curated images of friends).
The albums I so painstakingly put together over the years are much messier than I had hoped for. The plastic photo covering sheets are yellowing, photos are falling out of slots, and there are many empty slots where photos should be. Can you relate?
Every year, our kids get older and start seeing old pictures of us in a new light. Last night, my college kids and I looked through a photo album from my college days. They had seen it some years ago but suddenly, the pictures resonated so much more.
As we drove to Vancouver, Canada, for a three-day vacation — where we will stop by the home of one of my college roommates — I loved showing my family a super silly photo of her and me on our way to a costume party. I was a car dashboard with a rearview mirror made of tinfoil, and she was wearing a Batwoman costume made from a plastic garbage bag.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Pull out any photos you have from when you or your kids were young. Cuddle on the couch while you laugh at past haircuts, review family lineage, and look at vintage tech, like telephones with cords.
My daughter recently shared a podcast episode from Emma Chamberlain’s show, Anything Goes, entitled, Post It Or It Didn’t Happen? Emma explores photo taking and posting and brings up the point that a big reason to take pictures is not to forget a moment. She is right, but it has always surprised me how little time people stop and look at past photos. We envision some future self that sits down to look through them, but I can tell you, I am hanging around many 80 and 90-year-olds, and I don’t see them reaching for their old albums.
Find the joy, pull them out today, and have some smiles, maybe some tears, and definitely some closeness.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
As we’re about to celebrate 10 years of Screenagers, we want to hear what’s been most helpful and what you’d like to see next.
Please click here to share your thoughts with us in our community survey. It only takes 5–10 minutes, and everyone who completes it will be entered to win one of five $50 Amazon vouchers.
Plain and simple, there is one thing I recommend doing during the holidays for love and laughter. Bring out old photo albums and put them in a high-trafficked spot in your home — be it the kitchen table or a table in a living room. I predict we won’t have photo albums in the future, but we do right now.
Just as fun, bring out old boxes of photos. If you don’t have actual photos, digital ones will work too.
I love how I spent considerable time trying to make cute albums, and yet the “reject” photos in boxes seem to be the big hits much of the time. (It reminds me of Instagram images vs. the more real ones of Snapchat, which many teens tell me they prefer over more curated images of friends).
The albums I so painstakingly put together over the years are much messier than I had hoped for. The plastic photo covering sheets are yellowing, photos are falling out of slots, and there are many empty slots where photos should be. Can you relate?
Every year, our kids get older and start seeing old pictures of us in a new light. Last night, my college kids and I looked through a photo album from my college days. They had seen it some years ago but suddenly, the pictures resonated so much more.
As we drove to Vancouver, Canada, for a three-day vacation — where we will stop by the home of one of my college roommates — I loved showing my family a super silly photo of her and me on our way to a costume party. I was a car dashboard with a rearview mirror made of tinfoil, and she was wearing a Batwoman costume made from a plastic garbage bag.
Pull out any photos you have from when you or your kids were young. Cuddle on the couch while you laugh at past haircuts, review family lineage, and look at vintage tech, like telephones with cords.
My daughter recently shared a podcast episode from Emma Chamberlain’s show, Anything Goes, entitled, Post It Or It Didn’t Happen? Emma explores photo taking and posting and brings up the point that a big reason to take pictures is not to forget a moment. She is right, but it has always surprised me how little time people stop and look at past photos. We envision some future self that sits down to look through them, but I can tell you, I am hanging around many 80 and 90-year-olds, and I don’t see them reaching for their old albums.
Find the joy, pull them out today, and have some smiles, maybe some tears, and definitely some closeness.
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Plain and simple, there is one thing I recommend doing during the holidays for love and laughter. Bring out old photo albums and put them in a high-trafficked spot in your home — be it the kitchen table or a table in a living room. I predict we won’t have photo albums in the future, but we do right now.
Just as fun, bring out old boxes of photos. If you don’t have actual photos, digital ones will work too.
I love how I spent considerable time trying to make cute albums, and yet the “reject” photos in boxes seem to be the big hits much of the time. (It reminds me of Instagram images vs. the more real ones of Snapchat, which many teens tell me they prefer over more curated images of friends).
The albums I so painstakingly put together over the years are much messier than I had hoped for. The plastic photo covering sheets are yellowing, photos are falling out of slots, and there are many empty slots where photos should be. Can you relate?
Every year, our kids get older and start seeing old pictures of us in a new light. Last night, my college kids and I looked through a photo album from my college days. They had seen it some years ago but suddenly, the pictures resonated so much more.
As we drove to Vancouver, Canada, for a three-day vacation — where we will stop by the home of one of my college roommates — I loved showing my family a super silly photo of her and me on our way to a costume party. I was a car dashboard with a rearview mirror made of tinfoil, and she was wearing a Batwoman costume made from a plastic garbage bag.
When kids break a rule, most parents default to handing down a consequence. But research on autonomy-supportive parenting shows that inviting kids to help decide the consequence leads to deeper learning, stronger accountability, and even kinder behavior toward others. Younger kids tend to overpunish themselves while teens often go easy, and both create natural openings for parents to guide the conversation. The goal isn't softer consequences. It's consequences that actually teach.
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Kids with ADHD benefit most when parents provide support at the exact moment behavior happens, a science-backed approach called "point of performance." Abruptly shifting from high-stimulation screen time to demanding tasks creates a "dopamine cliff," a brain chemistry drop that often shows up as resistance and conflict. Understanding both concepts helps parents smooth those transitions and build real skills and confidence in their kids over time.
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A new Louis Theroux documentary on Netflix exposes the growing network of online influencers pushing sexism, misogyny, and a narrow vision of masculinity on boys and young men. Combined with last year's hit series Adolescence, it is a wake-up call for parents. The good news: there is a lot we can do. This week, I round up our most relevant blogs and podcast episodes from recent months, covering everything from the "interrupter" technique to boys' mental health, phones in schools, online sports betting, pornography, and the manosphere's exploitation of boys' loneliness. The research is clear that parents who show up with curiosity, honesty, and consistency have more influence than they realize.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
