We all know time matters. For parents, we need to focus on how we spend that time. From the moment our children are born until the time they graduate, we have approximately 936 weeks with them. In the book Playing for Keeps by Reggie Joiner, Kristen Ivy and Liz Hansen, these precious weeks are illustrated with a jar filled with marbles—each marble representing one week.

From viral TikTok challenges to the controversial launch of Metaverse, 2021 was filled with big changes in the digital world. In a time where tech trends and news can be overwhelming, we thought we would take this opportunity to summarize the top digital stories for parents in 2021.

Join Krista Boan as she talks with the founder of Protect Young Eyes, Chris McKenna. It’s a topic many parents are trying to tackle: digital safety. They talk tools, apps, ways to think about “layers” of protection, and a variety of other details that parents are trying to grasp.

Amy Holsopple is a writer, fitness instructor and the mother of a seven-year-old girl. She hosted a Screen Sanity Group Study in September 2021 with four of her fellow mom friends. Read on to hear her first-hand experience as the group host.

If you have a teen or tween, you’re probably familiar with TikTok challenges. Some of them come and go without gaining much traction, and others—like the recent “devious licks” challenge—make headline news.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a front-page article titled, Facebook Knows Instagram is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show. The eye-opening piece uncovers some of Facebook’s own internal research, showing the damaging effects Instagram has on teens’ mental health. In this blog, we offer five simple ways to help your kids deal with social media pressure.

We recently chatted with a mom who has an adopted son from foster care. Due to past trauma, she explained that he could experience things differently…one of those things is video games. The moment we heard her story, we wanted to know more and understand how the START community could help by raising awareness.

Recently, one of our Screen Sanity parents contacted us to seek advice on how to handle school-issued devices in her family’s home. With the fall season in full swing, we thought it timely to share our feedback in hopes of helping others who are sending kids back to school with more technology than ever.

When your kids know they have you by their side and can come to you no matter the situation they run into online, it creates an ongoing conversation and a safe space for them. The truth is our kids need a place to come to when they do mess up, because they will mess up.

It takes an incredibly brave parent to share about their challenges. Instead of putting on their blinders to protect their ego, they face the truth in order to help protect other children. This story is from one such mother, Ashley, who shared her story with START —so others might not go through the pain she has been through. Thank you, Ashley. Your courage and vulnerability are such a gift.