Media Mama Bear

Are you joining me on the uphill battle that is ? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Who is planning on NOT giving their children smartphones? Drop an emoji! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I want to know my tribe.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I want to know who is on board.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I want to know who is swimming against the stream. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I want to know who I can talk to when it gets tough. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
TIP: Set yourself up for success now by opening up the conversation with your children today. We have a 9, 7 and 4 year old and our 9 year old has already asked about a phone a few times. I told him that when he started driving we would get him a 'flip phone' where he'd be able to call us and call his friends. He asked about a smartphone. I explained that a smartphone is just for adults and his brain would be fully formed by 27 years old. I mentioned that when he goes to college he is welcome to pay for a smartphone. I gave him a ballpark estimate of what I think that will cost him to buy and pay for monthly. His eyes bugged out of his head and he said, 'I'll stick with the phone that you guys will pay for!' ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I'm already setting up our family's parameters and conversations around the notion of WHEN a smartphone might be ideal and sharing the fact that we're more than happy to pay for a flip phone until he's married. Make sure you're having these conversations with your children NOW. It gives them comfort with the knowledge on your family boundaries with technology. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Would I have these people in my home? Would I invite them over for dinner? If I'm watching television with my child, would I permit them to hang around these people portrayed?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

These are the questions I ask myself when our tv comes on. We have one tv in our entire home and our home is over 3,000 square feet. I love that there's only one too. It teaches good sharing and working together and compromise galore. Our children watch tv on the weekend evenings (with us or one of us) and my husband watches a show or two at night here and there but that's about it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We are super picky about what we watch. We lean into and their incredible grading system for tv shows and movies. We read the reviews and sometimes we decide that even G rated movies aren't for our family. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

How do you decide what to watch? What specific parameters do you set up for your children? Do you monitor what they watch? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I want to scream this at the top of my lungs. We are being force-fed the idea that technology is good for our children and is helping them learn and engage more. B-O-L-O-G-N-A.
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So many studies have concluded that anything online (be it educationally driven or just recreational fun for children) will only result in one heightened area of increase: pattern recognition abilities. That's it. Just that. So no thanks.
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DIVE DEEPER: A great article titled 'Reading to your Toddler? Print Books are Better Than Devices' is a great place to start on this subject. Google the article and read it.
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A snippet I loved from this article: "If the goal is dialogue and conversational turn-taking [then a] print book is just so good at eliciting these interactions. You’re comparing a tablet with the gold standard.”
- Dr. Tiffany Munzer, a fellow in developmental behavioral pediatrics at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
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BOOKS ALWAYS WIN!
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So I'll keep my children on a steady stream of all the incredible books out there, reading to them as often as we can and reminding them how great reading alone is too. A great place to start are some Charlotte Mason Living Books lists that you can find all over the internet. Pinterest is loaded with them.
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TIP: Whenever I see my children reading alone without a reminder or a set reading time, I actually give them a kiss. It's just an easy way to reinforce good reading behaviors and remind them how much I love seeing them read.
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FACT: Reports of child s*xual abuse material (CSAM) online have increased 15,000% over the last 15 years.
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Take a minute and go check out all the good that www.Thorn.org is doing.
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Follow them on IG via too.
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I get asked all the time WHY our children won't have smart phones and WHY we won't allow them social media accounts until they go to college and this is our WHY.
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Children exposure to this type of content online is growing. Keeping children's bodies and minds safe is our top priority.
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Share this post if you found this insight helpful.
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"If we provide enough space and possibilities for moving freely, then the children will move as well as animals: skillfully, simply, securely, naturally."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
- Dr Emmi Pikler⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Outdoor play is fundamental for big brain development leaps and neuron connections for children. We are so blessed to live 7 minutes from the beach and be in a location where our 3 children can play outside ALL YEAR ROUND. Even if you are in a climate that is harsh and the winters are tough, try your best to get outside with your children and get outside daily if you can. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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If love a good challenge, head over to and snag one of my friend Ginny's gorgeous free printables via the link in her bio. We printed ours on cardstock paper and are going to aim to do as many of those 1,000 hours together, as a family. There is something to be said for a family that enjoys the outdoors together. And being outside and playing is one of the best gifts you can give your children.
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Remember, your eyes are their prize. Phones down, eyes up. Enjoy life with them. ⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Share this post if you found this insight helpful and want to grow your own community!
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We love our mantra! Do you have a family mantra? Or something you have your family or children repeat often to build character and remind them of what is truly important? Here is our mantra slash motto:
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"Today is a great day to have a great day. We are the caring, sharing, kind Cullens and we make the right choice. If you see a friend that needs a friend...BE THAT FRIEND!"
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It's powerful and aligns each of us together on what matters most as a person, as a human...
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I want to hear from my fellow parents who are also on board for today!
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Once I was VOCAL about this family goal and focus...once I began chatting with our children about the WHY...and once I was BRAVE enough to start sharing this with others… guess what happened?
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My low-tech community started to open up and I couldn't believe how many others were on board, ready to do the same. Want to figure out who is ready to rock this goal in your circle of friends? The more you share posts by , the more you're realize who you know that aligns. Fine your besties today! Knowledge is power and there's power in numbers. I love that our three children have so many friends they can lean into that are being raised on the same low-tech diet daily.
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REMEMBER: Share this post if you've taken the pledge to not give your children smart phones!

Check out our course via the link in our bio for more info on how to start having these conversations in your own family!
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Another great, insightful and thought provoking quote for you to ponder...
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So maybe you're sitting here wondering what in the world your children will do WITHOUT their screens. You know you're ready for a change and their viewing habits have reached unhealthy levels but you're just unsure what that will look like...right? We were there too. But we trusted the instinct that told us the amount of screen time just wasn't right.
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Secret safe? Play, play, play. Let them play. Play IS the work of a child. They will come alive with creative and artistic PLAY in ways you can never imagine.
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TIP: If they've forgotten how to play and you're removing devices, then you might need to become their playmate for a while. You might need to stock up on some ideas over on Pinterest, etc. You might need to fill up that art cart with creative goodies. You might need to bust out those old Lego sets and Barbie bins. You might need to put a stack of board games on your coffee table and start a puzzle or two on the dining room table. Let’s call them invitations, invitations to PLAY again.
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Once I reminded myself that these 'playful' years are short lived and fleeting, our now very non-tidy house filled with creative players seemed so much less daunting and more focused on the now. Children need to play to learn. Make sure your children play for HOURS a day, both inside AND outside. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Grandparents: the biggest blessing for these 3 right next door! Helping get the play-doh ready for Kit’s class today, last night felt like any other night…hectic and hilarious as all get out but I just felt this overwhelming sense of gratefulness for these two humans! 💛🧡

TIP: Does your child have a friend that reads often? Take some time to reach out to their parent and find out what good books they've been devouring lately. If you're more on the strict side and don't have time to fully read a book before handing it to your child then explore and their incredible website of book reviews. I feel like their age guidelines are conservative and align well.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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INSIGHT: Sine our children are exposed to so little media, we've found that the lens in which they digest more mature subjects in a book is still so innocent, which we love. Meaning that we aren't as strict about books they read as we are about imagery they're exposed to through media. In the Waldorf education method it is believed that children's exposure to fables and fairytales that might seem dark and damning to the mature mind might actually be incredibly enlightening to teach lessons to young children. But this is ONLY if they are read without media exposure. Which we agree with, preserving their innocence. Think about the Harry Potter series and movies. We are ok with our children reading the first few books in that series but we are not ok with them watching the movies, as we stick to more conservative limits when it comes to videos and media imagery. And we felt these movies were too graphic. If a child places an innocent filter on what they're reading only (and not seeing) then their brains will only digest from the passage that which they are mature enough to handle. I hope this makes sense. Ask me questions if not! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Find more tips like this in our Digital Detox Course / Link in bio! 🤍
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Here's the true kicker in all of this: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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63% of victimized children connected with their perpetrator ONLINE!!!!!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Sixty mother freaking three. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This is my why. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This is my mission. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This is why I do what I do.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Children don't need to be online. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
They don't need social media. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Children don't need iPads and Kindle Fires.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Children don't deserve this.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Children deserve their innocence preserved. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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And I bet you're wondering what 2020 is looking like?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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FACT 1: NCMEC has experienced over a 60% increase in CyberTipline reports between January 2020 and September 2020 versus the same time period in 2019.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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FACT 2: NCMEC has experienced a 98.66% increase in online enticement reports between January 2020 and September 2020 versus the same time period in 2019.
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WHY: With both kids and adults spending more time online due to school closures and social distancing measures, NCMEC is aware of instances where child predators are using the darknet to discuss this opportunity to entice children to produce s*xually explicit material. Some child traffickers adjusted to the reluctance of buyers to meet in-person to engage in commercial s*x. Some traffickers are now offering options for subscription-based services in which buyers pay to access online images and videos of the child.
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