Hi!
Happy 2024! I hope you had a restful end to 2023. We spent our break battling a gnarly stomach bug and setting up a new gaming PC. I am back in my home office today for the first time in a while. Here’s what I’m full of:
Digital Thoughts
Gratitude. For this newsletter and for you, my readers. In February of 2023, I sent an email to some friends because I was freaking out about social media & the mental health of young people. That email turned into this weekly newsletter which now has hundreds of followers! Thank you for reading! Writing Thoughts from a digital mom has brought me so much joy— I am truly grateful to you!
Hope. For our kids. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I often write about whatever tech challenge we’re facing in our own house. Being able to write about it has helped my husband and I figure out how we want to be as digital parents. As a result, I am more confident that we are making good decisions for our kids. I have hope that we are setting our kids up for success. And I hope, reading these posts is helping you too!
Confidence. In all of us that we can do this. We can do digital parenting. We can be a part of the digital world with our kids. We can prepare them with tools and information to navigate safely.
Not Resolutions
As reality set in this morning, I was tempted to make some resolutions— some “I’m just gonna ___”’s— but I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to make grand proclamations. I want to set myself up for success in 2024. And, I want to set you up for success, too. So with that, here are the two behaviors I am going to encourage us all to focus on:
Be Easy. Digital Parenting is a work in progress. Its not ever going to feel perfect. If you could not figure out how to set up a parental control or you made a house rule that didn’t yield its intended outcome, its ok. So did I. Don’t beat yourself up. This is a marathon not a sprint, so take a deep breath and keep going.
Be Flexible. Its ok to change your mind, change the rules or change your attitude. Don’t feel like you have to be bound to a rule or a goal or an ‘I’m gonna.’ Our kids and frankly technology itself will change way too much over the course of a year to have a single golden rule stay golden for good. We will learn and adapt.
My ‘Not Resolutions’
I have 3 ‘not resolutions’ that I’m going to focus on.
The kids went back to school today. This afternoon when they get home they will want to play video games—like they have been doing for most of the break. But of course now we have homework and practices and messy rooms and earlier bedtimes which means way less time for screens. We’ll remind them of the obligations (homework, chores, etc) that have to be fulfilled first but we’ll be gentle. I don’t expect this week to be perfect. It will be a transition.
I am also changing the cadence of this newsletter. I’ve started booking more (paying) projects and speaking events which I am very excited about— but that means I will have fewer hours for writing—at least for the next few months. I will still write at least two posts per month—hopefully more as time permits— but I’m giving myself permission to adjust to stay balanced.
Paying subscribers can read on the see my 3rd ‘not resolution.’ Thanks again for being my readers! Love, Sarah
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