Transparent heart icon with white outline and + sign.

Life's busy, read it when you're ready!

Create a free account to save articles for later, keep track of past articles you’ve read, and receive exclusive access to all RP resources.

White magnifying glass.

Search thousands of RP articles

Articles, news, and reviews that celebrate God's truth.

Open envelope icon with @ symbol

Get Articles Delivered!

Articles, news, and reviews that celebrate God's truth. delivered direct to your Inbox!

A A
By:

13 quick thoughts on “Screen-Smart Parenting”

Parenting is _________.  You fill in the blank. It is so many things. It is an adventure with no shortage of ups and downs. I am sure we have felt at times proud and accomplished and then just as quickly felt embarrassed and insecure. These beautiful children God has entrusted to our care lead lives that are also filled with adventure and with healthy doses of curiosity.

Screen time: less is more

This year, we have been reading Screen-Smart Parenting in our homes and coming together to discuss its content together as parents. Our children have access to so much now and the book is encouraging us all to be good gatekeepers so that our children do not develop unhealthy habits and behaviors that the Devil longs to exploit. The digital devises in our homes and that many of our children possess provide opportunities for growth, learning and connection. Here are some tips that the book gives for healthy homes and habits:

1. No TV in the bedroom.
2. No background TV in the home.
3. Turn off devices at least 30 minutes prior to bedtime.
4. Teach your children to ask permission to use technology. Make technology a privilege, not a right.
5. Download/buy games and apps yourself, don’t let children do so.
6. Oversee YouTube. Tell your children to report any inappropriate games/sites/social networks to you.
7. Keep family computers/devices in as public a space as possible.
8. Don’t permit technology use during meals.
9. Designate screen-free times for the entire family.

Smartphones: you need complete access

Our children need help with time management online and offline. They need protected study and sleep time. They need coaching on how to use good judgment online, with sticky and uncomfortable situations online.

If your child has a smartphone:

10. Parents, you should know all their passwords.
11. 
Start with having all texts come to your devices.
12. Hold the phone when your child is sleeping (set up a nighttime charging station in a common room).
13. Encourage selfies in moderation.

Most of all, our children need for us as their parents to be good digital role models for them. Model that we can be engaged and present with our children without digital technology.

We are now reading the last section of the book, Part 3. In it, the author Dr. Jodi Gold walks readers through the development of a Family Digital Technology Agreement. Each will look different but it will help shape the healthy practices you commit to as a family. I am really looking forward to completing this for our own home!

Technology: the Devil wants it for his ends

Ultimately, we understand that this world is God’s and He made it good.  We believe that there is not one square inch of God’s world that doesn’t have his mark and stamp as creator – and ultimate redeemer.  Satan is not a creator.  He is merely creative in how he has distorted and twisted what God has made.  

Technology is a gift. It is good – and we see and experience its benefits all around us. But it is also something that needs boundaries and limits in order for us not to fall into traps of unhealthy habits and behaviors that the Devil has set up to exploit.

This is good, hard work, parents. But it is important. And you are not alone!

May God continue to give us courage and grace and wisdom as we raise up a generation of young people to know, love and serve Him. To His glory! 

Randy Moes is a high school principal at Calvin Christian School in South Holland, Illinois 

This article was originally published in our June 2017 issue.

Enjoyed this article?

Get the best of RP delivered to your inbox every Saturday for free.



Red heart icon with + sign.
Adult non-fiction, Book Reviews, Internet

The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place

by Andy Crouch 2017/ 220 pages Did you just binge multiple seasons of that show everyone is talking about over the weekend? Do you feel guilty for doing it? Do often lay on the couch and scroll Instagram and TikTok from the time you get home until you crawl into bed? Does your family see the back of your phone more than your face? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to read The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch.  Crouch’s approach to technology is “almost almost Amish.” He does appreciate the many ways that technology has improved all aspects of our lives, but is wary of the “easy-everywhere” lifestyle that technology offers, especially within our homes. Technology may give us unlimited access to information, but it does not make us wise. It gives us a platform to speak, but it does not give us the conviction and character to act. Wisdom and courage can only be nurtured and grown with the help of our family, and of course the Church.  Worship is the most important thing we can do, as Deuteronomy 6 reminds us, that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our might. True worship with our brother and sisters in Christ calls us out of an “easy-everything” world back to “the burden of bearing the image of God” which brings us ultimate joy. Technology can derail this by addicting us to instant gratification. Crouch challenges readers to 10 commitments to detox from this “easy-everywhere” lifestyle, a detox my family and I have just begun.I would encourage anyone struggling with putting technology in its proper place to read this book. While not everyone lives in a single-family household, we are all part of the family of God, making these 10 commitments relevant to all.  Some of those commitments include: “We are designed for a rhythm of work and rest. So one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year we turn off our devices and worship, feast, play and rest together. “Car time is conversation time.” “Spouses have one another’s passwords, and parents have total access to children’s devices.” “We use screens for a purpose, and we use them together, rather than using them aimlessly, and alone.” You can read an excerpt of the first 30 pages here and listen to a 6-minute interview with the author below. ...