Full Contact Life

Did we as parents really not know that children/teenagers who have unlimited access to their phones at night don't get much sleep? Did we really not know that we needed to set screen time limits? Or did we not WANT to know? For years now, decades, there have been articles and studies published about the dangers of television screen time, and children having TV's in their rooms, and watching too much television, so it isn't hard to recognize then that a telephone screen in a child's room would yield the same harmful effects. It is all well and good that we are realizing the dangers of cell phones in general, but to be honest I believe that parents have intentionally not been aware of some of the specific dangers because of the burden it would place on them. I am a homeschooling mom and I am told frequently by other moms that they could never homeschool because they don't get along with their children. Or that when spending large amounts of time with their childre...

Every crisis in society has a root cause, a beginning, a 'why' if you will. This cell-phone crisis I believe started many many years ago...when we stopped keeping score at little league sports games, when everyone started getting trophies just because we didn't want anyone to be left out. This crisis of children feeling suicidal and parents just handing this powerful devices into hands of children who are not even tall enough to reach the top shelf in the pantry isn't because of the device itself. It's us. The parents. A month ago I wrote a blog post about Aspen and my experience in taking her out of junior high to homeschool her. This was my final paragraph " The inspiration for this post comes from the things I have seen from Collin Kartchner share on his Instagram stories. Society is failing. We as parents are failing our children. We are failing them because we care too much about what the world thinks. We are failing them because we are not intentional...

I have been told countless times over these many years that I am TOO protective of my children, that I need to learn how to trust people and that my past impacts me. Yes!!!! My past most definitely impacts. I am a survivor of hell. I made it out and I know how to protect my children because of what I survived. NO!!! I will not trust more. I will continue to be vigilant when it comes to the safety of my children. I will make judgements about people and situations that I don't like or that seem sketchy to me. And I will make these judgements without proof. I will protect my children WITHOUT proof that any harm may happen. I do not need proof. And I am willing to upset anyone and everyone when it comes to sheltering and protecting my children. I have even cut some family ties because of situations that I know are harmful despite having proof. We as parents are the ONLY ones who can protect our children. NO ONE loves your child more than you. NO ONE will be lo...

* *This is something I shared in a parent screen awareness group for our local community. For those who follow me on Instagram you have seen me share things from Colin Kartchner who is leading out on this informative wave of the dangers of cellphones and internet access for young children. I feel it is important to also share this with all of you because it is an important topic about an important tool. While we are all learning and becoming more aware of the dangers and pitfalls of cellphones and other forms of communication and entertainment let us not forget the most important tool we have as parents: intuition. We do random phone checks on our two oldest who are 15 and 17. A couple of months ago while doing a phone check my mommy senses started tingling. Every thing seemed on the up and up but something was nagging at me. I talked with the 15 year old and asked her why I would be feeling that way. She put on a good act. She was almost convincing, but it was the disp...