Family time during the holiday is great….and complicated. So many unspoken needs and hopes, so many conflicting communication styles. It is easy to quickly retreat into our personal devices to soothe our tense feelings. My advice to myself, and to all of us, is to reach for a board game whenever possible. For my family, it’s Boggle. I’m also hoping to try to play Bananagrams more.
I filmed a family last week playing a Dr. Seuss board game, and it seriously warmed my heart. They all had each other's attention and playfulness—true connection in action.
It is a lot of fun to play video games as a family but we have to keep in mind it can also be very activating, eliciting adrenaline and cortisol. Bringing down the intensity level a bit with a slower paced silly board game can be awesome.
I keep thinking about the unconscious barriers that prevent us parents from not pulling out board games or cards more often. For me, I was scared of games that could take so much time. I have a hard time sitting still for long, and Monopoly can be torture for me. But, for the shorter games I am all in because I know that when we start to play the game, I feel such a strong sense of connection.
The key is of course not just gifting the game, but gifting your time in playing the game, more than once. Consider setting a goal for yourself of the number of times you will play a game with your family over the next eight weeks. Two times? Four times?
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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!
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
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Family time during the holiday is great….and complicated. So many unspoken needs and hopes, so many conflicting communication styles. It is easy to quickly retreat into our personal devices to soothe our tense feelings. My advice to myself, and to all of us, is to reach for a board game whenever possible. For my family, it’s Boggle. I’m also hoping to try to play Bananagrams more.
I filmed a family last week playing a Dr. Seuss board game, and it seriously warmed my heart. They all had each other's attention and playfulness—true connection in action.
It is a lot of fun to play video games as a family but we have to keep in mind it can also be very activating, eliciting adrenaline and cortisol. Bringing down the intensity level a bit with a slower paced silly board game can be awesome.
I keep thinking about the unconscious barriers that prevent us parents from not pulling out board games or cards more often. For me, I was scared of games that could take so much time. I have a hard time sitting still for long, and Monopoly can be torture for me. But, for the shorter games I am all in because I know that when we start to play the game, I feel such a strong sense of connection.
The key is of course not just gifting the game, but gifting your time in playing the game, more than once. Consider setting a goal for yourself of the number of times you will play a game with your family over the next eight weeks. Two times? Four times?
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Family time during the holiday is great….and complicated. So many unspoken needs and hopes, so many conflicting communication styles. It is easy to quickly retreat into our personal devices to soothe our tense feelings. My advice to myself, and to all of us, is to reach for a board game whenever possible. For my family, it’s Boggle. I’m also hoping to try to play Bananagrams more.
I filmed a family last week playing a Dr. Seuss board game, and it seriously warmed my heart. They all had each other's attention and playfulness—true connection in action.
It is a lot of fun to play video games as a family but we have to keep in mind it can also be very activating, eliciting adrenaline and cortisol. Bringing down the intensity level a bit with a slower paced silly board game can be awesome.
I keep thinking about the unconscious barriers that prevent us parents from not pulling out board games or cards more often. For me, I was scared of games that could take so much time. I have a hard time sitting still for long, and Monopoly can be torture for me. But, for the shorter games I am all in because I know that when we start to play the game, I feel such a strong sense of connection.
The key is of course not just gifting the game, but gifting your time in playing the game, more than once. Consider setting a goal for yourself of the number of times you will play a game with your family over the next eight weeks. Two times? Four times?
Hobbies offer benefits at every age, from helping children build a sense of self to giving retirees a renewed sense of purpose. The word traces back to the 1400s as a nickname for a small horse, later evolving into today's meaning of a pastime pursued for its own sake. Parents can spark interest by sharing their own hobby histories, building a family-history hobby list, and trying new activities together. Summer is an ideal time to lean into offline hobbies as an antidote to screen saturation.
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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.
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.
