Episode 90: How To Take Back Screen Time & Build Connection With Your Kids – Dr. Samantha Hayes

LD Expert Podcast with Jill Stowell
How To Take Back Screen Time & Build Connection With Your Kids
Dr. Samantha Hayes

 

Jill Stowell: Every family I talk to today is impacted by screen time. How much is too much? What are our kids missing when they're on their devices? And how can parents set healthy limits without those constant battles and without demonizing technology? Today, we're talking to Dr. Samantha Hayes, founder of Beyond the Screen Families, about these really important questions and more. Welcome to the LD Expert podcast, your place for answers and solutions for dyslexia and learning differences.

 

I'm your host, Jill Stowell, founder and executive director of Stowell Learning Centers and author of “Take the Stone out of the Shoe. A Must-Have Guide to Understanding, Supporting, and Correcting Dyslexia, Learning, and Attention Challenges”.

 

At Stowell Learning Centers, we work with children and families just like yours, helping parents understand what's going on when their bright child struggles in school and what can be done to change that permanently. Having a child dealing with dyslexia or a learning challenge can feel very lonely for a parent.

 

You feel like you're the only one whose child is struggling and you don't know who to talk to. This podcast is for you. We want to equip you with knowledge and practical tools for understanding and helping your child.

 

If this episode brings up any questions for you, please post them in the comments or go to stowellcenter.com and give us a call.

 

My guest today is Dr. Samantha Hayes. Samantha is the founder of Beyond the Screen Families, where she helps parents create meaningful, screen-balanced experiences for children. With 20-plus years in education and a passion for hands-on, minds-on learning, she empowers families to build connection, curiosity, and lifelong skills through playful, screen-free activities.

 

Welcome, Samantha. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm really excited about our conversation.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Thank you for having me. I'm super excited as well.

 

Jill Stowell: You know, I was just talking with my niece last night and she was trying to – she was painting rocks with her daughter and she said, “Man, I'm running out of ideas of what to do.” And I said, “Oh, I have just the podcast for you.”

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes, painting rocks is one of the things like I love to do. We're actually going to do it in an enrichment that I've got coming up because it's like such an easy thing. But yes, lots of ideas.

 

Jill Stowell: Well, Samantha, I think every parent listening can relate to that tug of war over screens. We want our kids to be safe and connected and happy, but screens have a way of taking over. You have spent years helping families find a balance. So, what are you seeing right now that led you to start Beyond the Screens Families?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yeah, you know, what I started seeing as I would look around, like when I'm out at restaurants and I'm noticing so many families sitting together and yet not even engaging with each other. They're on their device. They're, you know, just sitting there. The entire family has their own device. They're all sitting on them. Nobody's talking with each other and they're not communicating with each other.

 

In fact, I was just in a classroom last week and I saw in a classroom, all of these students on their own devices. And then they had the – oh my gosh, it's not called a smart board anymore. Maybe it is, but they had the smart board up on the front of this classroom and that was playing something different. And that happened for a large chunk of the day when I was in there and I was like, “Wait, what is happening in here?”

 

So, what I'm seeing is kids spending lots of time at school on a device for various reasons, right? There are very good things that can happen with the device, but we're spending lots of time on devices at school. Then we're getting home and we're spending lots of time on devices, screens like the TV screen, our personalized little worlds we've created. And it's really impacting our kids. Like we're watching mental health issues are skyrocketing. Anxiety, you know, depression, all of these things. And there's a really easy tie because we've seen a quick increase, so rapid, especially after COVID, of the use of technology in our everyday world. And then we're seeing this, oh, look at the mental health stuff that's also happening with it.

 

So, yeah, I don't know if you know this, but on average, a child spends seven hours a day on a screen. That to me, that number is just astounding.

 

Jill Stowell: That is. It’s shocking. Wow. So tell us a little bit about what Beyond the Screen Families does. What is that all about? So that people have a little bit of a picture of what you're doing, what your mission is.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yeah, we are working to help provide support to families to balance the screen time. Screens aren't going away. That's not something that I would even advocate for. I do believe that there is power in technology for a lot of different reasons, but it's working to help balance it and balance it in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming or like, I just can't take on one more thing. Because I'm a mom, right? I'm a mom. I come home, like I have a busy work day and sometimes, you know, you sit down and you're like, “Okay, what's going to happen next?”

 

And so really working to support parents so that it's not one more thing, right? So, we provide activities, enrichment opportunities, and those kinds of like those experiences so that parents have something that's easy. So, it's not one more thing. It's setting the kids up for success so that they can do it independently.

 

You know, two-year-olds can do things independently. And so even the activities that we used to support parents and those opportunities, they're all developmentally-appropriate. So, there's different age bands that we work with so that parents get what their kids are ready for, not some project that you maybe found on Pinterest.

 

And then you go to try it and you're like, “Oh, I have to buy 12 things. I have to help my kid do all of these things.” There are family connection activities, but then there's also that opportunity for independence that are built into what we provide.

 

Jill Stowell: And all of that is so important. I mean, we really don't have to entertain our kids 24/7 because their ability to develop creativity and independence and curiosity. I mean, they just have to have a little space to do that. You know, I liked what you said about not making technology the enemy because this is the world we live in. We all use it. It can be very helpful.

 

But from a really practical standpoint, looking at a family and social connections, you mentioned some things about problems with screen time with increasing anxiety. What else should parents be aware of, that too much screen time is either keeping their child from developing or causing problems, that might be causing?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yeah, well, we know – you know, your screen, these little things we have right here, create a personalized world. It's the only place we have where we go and we can get absolutely everything tailored to us, right? With the social media we go on or the games that we play that are then rewarding us and doing these things all meant to keep us coming back. The whole point of it is to keep us coming back. Right?

 

And there's a lot of discussion about this. When kids are on social media, they get a warped sense of what reality is. And so then we're seeing emotional problems, right? Because we're looking at somebody else's life. That's really only their life on that social media stream. It's not reality, but kids haven't fully developed in an understanding yet to know, like, that's not life. That's just what somebody's posting.

 

So, we see, you know, emotional things happening. We see behavioral things happening. You know, a kid maybe is throwing a temper tantrum. And so you give them the screen because you're like, okay, they'll be quiet for a little bit. But then we have this like vicious cycle that starts spinning because you give them the screen, they're quiet for a little bit, you take the screen away. And what happens? The temper tantrums start all over again, because they're now wanting more of it.

 

Jill Stowell: Right.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: There’s aggression with video games that's happening. And we talked about anxiety, but there's also confidence that gets lowered with student – with kids. I almost said students, but because that's what they are for me from my educational background so often, but the self-confidence, you know, starts to plummet, because kids are looking at somebody else's life. And they're like, “Well, that's not what I have.” You know, it's, it's exemplified from when I was little. There was no social media, there weren't games that were bringing kids all together all the time.

 

So, all we knew was what was in our own world, very small radius world of what was happening, instead of, “Oh, well, I don't have that. My parents won't get me that.” And so, we have all those things happening. There's also a ton of research about hyperactivity and screens, because screens of the modern day are rapid-paced movies, even little TV shows. They're rapid-paced, bright colors, and it's changing the way the brain is making connections. And so, a lot more hyperactivity happening. And even, you know, depending on when you start a screen. I just shared something about, you know, 59% of children are having screen exposure under three.

 

And so, what we're seeing is the more excessive the screen exposure, the more intense language delays are happening, because they're not having that face to face connection, being able to see the mouth movements and how people interact. And so, then language gets delayed, too. And then we have just the normal stuff, you know. I was just talking with a parent, and they were like, I need more imaginative, creative play for my kiddo. And part of that is allowing that boredom to set in. And when we have a screen, we're not doing that. It's like here, rapid pace, let's go.

 

Jill Stowell: You know, and maybe that is some kind of a change that we have also gone through, you know. I mean, as a society, seeing how everybody's doing things, and so it kind of puts pressure on you. Well, I need to do that for my child. I need to do that so that we do – you know, I think, sometimes get caught in feeling like we have to entertain our child all the time. And, you know, you're right, that doesn't leave space for them to get bored and start to figure some things out for themselves or start to explore.

 

Yeah, you brought up so many things there. And something you said, you know, about the screens being totally tailored for us, the algorithms. It's astounding to me what they know, and what they present to us. And so, it does become, in a way really egocentric. It's all about me and what I like and what I want to see.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes.

 

Jill Stowell: And so for a developing child, you know, that also is probably something that needs to be looked at is how much does that cause the child to have a skewed sense that everything in the world is about them. So, kind of an interesting thing. And, you know, to your point about ADHD, there's a really recent study out of Cornell University 2025, that found that daily screen time of four or more hours was linked to higher risks of anxiety, depression, behavior problems, and ADHD. And I feel like we have absolutely seen that with our student population in the last several years.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Absolutely. Yeah.

 

Jill Stowell: So, what can parents do? How can they counteract the amount of time that is spent on screens and that kids want to spend on screens?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: You know, it starts with replacement activities, right? I think that's where sometimes we miss. You know, we go, “I'm just going to take the screen away.” But our kids haven't developed the skills and the tools to be able to know what to do when a screen isn't there. If they've had the screen, they've had this screen. It has been their own little tiny world that's giving them what they think they want and they need. And then you take it away. It's very much a punishment, right? So, you take it away. And then all of a sudden, they're left going – they don't have the coping skills to figure out what's next.

 

And so, I think as parents, that's where we can kind of jump in and offer really healthy, fun replacement activities that offer the same – there are three things that the screens offer that we can jump in and make sure activities do. I always think, “Oh, three things.” Sometimes if I'm listening to that as a mom, I might be like, “I don't have the time for that.” Like, I don't, but it doesn't have to be complicated.

 

So, like a reward would be one thing. And so, our screens are meant to reward us. And so, what kind of replacement activity can you offer that engages that same type of reward system? Maybe it's about connection. Maybe your kids are on social media because they want to connect. So how can you offer replacement activity that connects? Maybe it's going for a walk or having some friend over for a little bit of time or, you know, like offering that actual in-person connection opportunity. Maybe it's something challenging, like a build challenge, you know, and those are my favorite in all honesty, because I don't need to think hard about it.

 

I can tell my kids like with magnetic tiles or whatever, Legos, cardboard boxes, “Go build a community for your hot wheels,” or whatever, you know, and for older kids, it could be like design your room, how you want it to be. And they can get out a piece of paper and like sketch it out. And maybe like some of the reward is being able to revamp their room in that way or something like that.

 

The second thing would be that it fills that emotional social gap because that's what our screens often do. And those are connection, creativity, or mastery, like being able to master something. And the third thing is that it's accessible. It just needs to be something they can do easily, right? And you can do all of this by encouraging like a variety of different kind of free time activities. Maybe there's a club after school they want to join or a sport or, you know, they really enjoy reading with friends. And so, like one day a week, it's like reading with friends. The whole point is offering them something that gets them off the screen, engages those kind of reward centers in their brain.

 

And the more they do that, the less they'll look to the screen. So it's like starting small. How do you start you start small, right? Maybe it's 15 minutes, maybe it's just 15 minutes. And you start small with that 15 minutes, and then you up the time. And they'll naturally start upping the time themselves as well. And just offering those kinds of experiences will help to counteract all the screen time they might be doing in other avenues at school where you don't have control, right? You have control, complete control over what happens in your own house. And so, looking at that and figuring out, “Okay, what can I do or how can I help my child for these 20 minutes or during dinner?” where it's okay, we're going to not put the screens away. And instead, we're going to play 20 questions at dinnertime or something like that, just to get that momentum building.

 

Jill Stowell: And, you know, I really appreciate what you said about, even if it's just 15 minutes, start really small. You know, so often, when parents become really concerned about their child spending so much time on screens, they do exactly what you said. Their first instinct is, this is bad, we have to take it away completely.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes.

 

Jill Stowell: And that just doesn't work. And in fact, most parents I've talked to then come back and say, “Well, that created so many more problems.”

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes.

 

Jill Stowell: But that idea that you bring in a replacement behavior or activity. And it's just a short time. And then they get used to that. And then you up the time or you do it, do two different things at different times of day or something. And gradually, it becomes a part of how you operate without it being this horrible, stressful, you know, removal.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: I always equate it for adults. I'm like, we all go on those like fad diets, right? Or like, we're like, “I'm going to start exercising.” New Year's resolutions are the biggest.

 

Jill Stowell: Yeah.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: I’m going to start doing this. And I'm going to do it every day. And so you go out and you like, hit it. And then two weeks later, you're like, “I'm done. I cannot maintain this.” And it's the same thing for screens with our kids, like the same exact thing.

 

Jill Stowell: Yeah. And to that point, when parents do start setting limits, because I think you have to decide in your home how that's going to look and how much screen time and when and all of that. And when parents do start setting limits, it's really hard, especially for the first three days.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes.

 

Jill Stowell: And, you know, without devices, kids are bored. So let's pursue those things just a little bit more, because it is hard to make these changes, especially now that the whole world is so entrenched in screen time. All of us.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yeah, and I think, you know, depending on the age of your children, so I would say, even as early as like third grade, maybe first grade, but I would say strongly third grade and above. When you start setting the limits and the rules, involving your kids can make such a big difference.

 

Jill Stowell: Yes.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: You know, and it's not necessarily involving them in all of that, all of it. Right? So it's like figuring out, “Okay, where can my kids have input?” and then asking for their input on those family rules and boundaries around screen time. And again, I think you also start small there, you know. Like maybe it's no more screens at dinner. That's easy, right? That's easy. Maybe not for the first three days to a week, but that could be an easy – okay. I'm deciding for the first, or, you know, we're going to have no screens at dinner. When else do you think we could go 30 minutes without having screens?

 

It could be as easy as that and involving that because the more input they have, or the more they feel like they're part of the plan, the more buy-in they have. Right?

 

Jill Stowell: Absolutely. And, you know, I know that as parents, we want our kids to be able to think and make good decisions and problem solve. And so around an issue like this or any issue, if we can help our kids to be a part of that, they get to exercise those skills, that executive function, which is going to serve them for their whole life.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yup, absolutely.

 

Jill Stowell: So just like with New Year's resolutions, parents often start off with good intentions. But then the day gets long and we're tired and the limits start to slide. And so, what have you seen that really helps parents stay consistent and hold to those boundaries when they start getting pushback?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: So I think there's a couple of things, right? Especially when you're starting out, start small, make it visible. So, it's not just something you say. Maybe you have a family calendar or something like that. I've even said, you know, depending on the age of your kids, maybe it's a, a calendar invite you send out to your whole family. And it's, you know, you block off that time every day.

 

We're going to be screen-free for these 30 minutes or this hour or whatever your family decides, just so it's on everybody's calendar. But then sometimes, sometimes we do have to bend the rules and that's where being specific and explicit makes a huge difference. I just had this with my daughter. We do not watch a lot of screen time. And there was something happening this weekend. And I was like, sure, you can go watch the Fox and the Hound. But you get one movie and it, and she was like, “Okay.” So, she watched it. She was done. She turned it off and walked away. And so it's, it's being explicit.

 

Maybe you come home and this has been a doozy of a day. It's like one of the most stressful, chaotic days you've had as a parent and you come home and you're just exhausted. Everybody's exhausted. And you're like, I can't even pull something out of my brain at this point. And just being explicit with your child saying, you know, okay, today we're going to bend the rule on screen time, but tomorrow it goes back into place. And just being that clear helps your kid understand and know like, okay, we're bending the rule right now. And then we go back in. And you're probably going to get off track at some point. And that's where I honestly believe being open and honest about it is one of your biggest and best things you can do.

 

It's the thing I hear from parents is when they're like, “I told my kid I messed up and we had too much screen time.” And then they were like, “Oh, okay.” You know, then it was, let's revisit our plan.

 

You know, where did we go wrong? What do we need to adjust? And just going back to that first plan you set up as a family and saying, “What happened? How did we get so off track?” Uh, and that helps so much kids, kids as young as like kindergarten, completely understand that and then want to work with you to be like, “Okay, now what do I do?” And those, those small, what may seem like small conversations have huge impact. Number one, because they're letting your child see, like, we all make mistakes. We all go off track. They're going to go off track. You're going to go off track and we all do it. Sometimes screens just become the easy out.

 

But then that we can go back and get back on track together. You know, those would be probably the key things I would say. Just focus on those, the open, honest communication, and then getting back on track, reevaluating your plan.

 

Jill Stowell: And putting that communication around that helps the child I think to feel secure. I mean, if sometimes you follow the rules and sometimes you don't, and it's like, you know this rule. But then other times you don't, that becomes very confusing to a child. But if we're, you know, going after this together and having conversations around it, it's building so many skills and it's building security for them.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes. Yes. And we're all learning with technology, right?

 

Jill Stowell: Right.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: All of us every single day. And so just being open and honest about it helps all of us.

 

Jill Stowell: Right.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes:

 

Jill Stowell: To work through it. Right. Absolutely. So you talked about life getting hectic and of course it does. Parents, you know, still have to make dinner and do email and get things done. And when we talked before, you mentioned having back pocket activities when you need a few minutes to do things. Can you share what that is and what some of those might look like and how it benefits kids and parents?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yeah. Back pocket activities are literally things I could pull out of my back pocket. It’s like I don't need supplies.

 

I don't need a whole bunch of things and better yet because they're things that I might pull out quite often. I don't have to think about them. Because when we're exhausted, thinking about one more thing can be the thing that just tips us over the edge.

 

And then we go from, no, this is our screen-free hour to just take it, take the screen. So, you know, it can be as easy as something like 20 questions or I spy or scavenger hunts.

 

And I don't mean scavenger hunts where you have to have a sheet of paper and cross things off. It can be go find me everything that starts with the letter D in this room, or go find me all the things that are orange in our house. And it can be as simple as that, or it can be, you know, things like sometimes like we have – because I have little kids, we have like tubs and bins and stuff like that all the time sitting out. And so my kids want to carwash a lot. And I will say to them, yeah, go fill up the bin, make yourself a carwash, right? I don't have to do anything. It's just something. Yep. Why don't you guys go do that in this minute while I'm working on getting the dinner finalized and everything ready.

 

But for older kids, because I know that's sometimes where the problems come to, right? It's like, technology surrounds us. And so maybe it's a photo hunt instead of a scavenger hunt. Now you're tapping in, you may be using this personalized device in some way and using the photos. But it's one of my favorite things to do with older kids is be like, I want you to go take pictures for the next 20 minutes of things that you love or things that bring you joy, right? Because they're still using their screen only because it has got a camera on it. They're not using it in the traditional sense, but then they're going out, they're reflecting, they're looking at different things. You can have a conversation about it afterwards. They show it to you.

 

You can have an artistic conversation about camera angles and all that kind of stuff and lighting, or you can have just a reflective conversation about, oh, I didn't realize that that meant so much to you. Or I didn't realize, you know, it's just like a portal into their world or it could be something like a silly scenario or, you know, like, it's just a question.

 

You have no Wi-Fi for 24 hours. What would you do? Those are all things you don't need extra. And you can just be like, pull it out of your back pocket. Here you go. Let's have a little fun for a little bit of time.

 

Jill Stowell: Absolutely. So what kind of feedback do you get from parents who have done this?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: So they will say at first they were like, I thought I was going to have a breakdown, right? Like, it's like, oh my gosh, we're not going to do screens for even 30 minutes during this block. I don't know that we can handle it. I just had a conversation with mom the other day about it. She's like, I don't know if we can handle it. And I'm like, it's okay. You're going to start small. Here's my suggestion. Here's where I suggest you start, start with one tiny little opportunity. And she just even came back and she goes, “That was easy,” you know? And I think that that, that is typically what ends up happening is, is they'll start with one thing and then they're like, oh, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

 

My kids didn't throw a temper tantrum for as long as I thought they were going to throw a temper tantrum or the first three days were super rough. And then it was like, they totally forgot about the screen during this time. You know, it's always this, like, you can see the weight, like lifting off their shoulders when they're talking to me about it. It's easier than I thought it was going to be. Like once we made it maybe through the little hurdle, it wasn't that bad.

 

Jill Stowell: Yeah. And, and I think as parents, we just want to do everything right. And it's easy to take too big a bite and it's really valuable to recognize that one tiny step is a step that gets us moving in the right direction. And so that is palatable. So, yeah.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: I'm sure you've seen the ladder image where the ladder rungs are spaced out really far. And because that's replicating that trying to take the giant step, right? You can't even get your foot on the next rung type of situation, but when the ladder rungs are spaced nicely apart and they're just small steps, it's easy to go from one to the next. And then you don't realize that you're already working up the ladder and because you were just taking those small incremental steps that were being helpful.

 

Jill Stowell: And so then you're doing something that's really healthy for everyone in the family, you know, and especially our kids, it's really healthy for them, but you're doing it in a really healthy way that hopefully doesn't involve too many big blowups, you know?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes.

 

Jill Stowell: And I know kids can get very volatile around screens. And so, you know, all of these suggestions that you've made about including them in the planning and small steps and hanging in there for three days, neuroplasticity starts some of changing those pathways in the brain. It kind of starts if you give it three repetitions, so hang in there.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: And then we know habits form after 21 days, right? So, you started at three, you keep it going by day 21, all of a sudden, you've got a habit being built that's not related to the screen. It's more centered around that curiosity and connection piece.

 

Jill Stowell: Yeah. And I imagine then you find you get to enjoy your kids more because it's very hard when they're down here.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yes, yes. And for adults and kids alike, when we're spending time on the screen – and I am sure parents can relate to this, right? You're on your screen, you're trying to get something done. Your kids like talking to you and you get snappy and kids do the same thing. They're on their screen. And then we're trying to talk to them and they get snappy, right? Like it's happening. But if we can put the screen, I let – my favorite thing to do is just leave my screen in a completely other room, because that's the way I can keep my brain from thinking I need to check it because it's meant for my brain to be like, check me, check me. But if I keep it in the other room, then it's like, oh, it's out of sight, out of mind. And then I can zero in with my kids. And the same is true for kids.

 

You know, I know some parents have said that's how they started. We just started keeping our cell phones in the kitchen because then it's super apparent when you go, like when kids are like, oh, I'm going to go check my cell phone. Every time they have to get up and go to the kitchen, happens less.

 

Jill Stowell: Yeah. Well, before we wrap up, I would love for you to share a little bit about specifically what you're doing through Beyond the Screen Families. You have a summer program and a monthly subscription service that gives parents ready-to-go activities. And so, can you just tell us kind of what that looks like and how families can connect with you?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Yeah, absolutely. So, we do have a monthly subscription, replacement activity pack. All of the activities are developmentally appropriate. So you sign up for your child's band, it's only a two-year age band, because I want to make sure that the activities you get are spot on, that they're going to work for your child in some capacity. Without the worry of like, I tried this, and it was too hard for my kid, or I tried this, it was too easy for my child. So, they're set up that way.

 

The activities all come with benefits, reflection questions, alternatives, because maybe you try the base activity. And that didn't really go as planned. So, you want to alter it knowing your kid loves colors or whatever, and there'll be an alternative for it. Or knowing that your kid loves this activity, and you just want to offer a little variation because practicing similar skills is also a very good thing.

 

So that's the essentials pack. And then we offer summer programs in Costa Mesa for kids right now K through sixth grade. And usually for the month of June-ish, I say ish, because sometimes it might go into July. All screen focus, they're always located in a park. And that is intentional, because we really draw in that to that connection with nature, and really pushing screens out of sight.

 

Jill Stowell: Great. And how can people get ahold of you?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Oh, thank you. They can find me either at the website, www.beyondthescreenfamilies.com or they can also find us on social media at Beyond the Screen Families.

 

Jill Stowell: Great. Well, those sound like wonderful services. One, you've got to be local, but the subscription, you know, you can just tailor that to your child and get it right there, virtually. So fantastic.

 

So, as we close, we talked about one small step, what would be one small first step that you would encourage parents to take this week, something simple that they can, you know, do to start to bring back some balance and connection into family life?

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: I would say pick one replacement activity. Fifteen minutes, think about what your child likes to do. Find one activity that that can complement that same thing and say, “We're going to try this for 15 minutes every day or 15 minutes total,” because maybe that’s it. For right now, we're going to replace screens with this one thing and see, see how we like it and what we can adjust and what we should do next.

 

Jill Stowell: And if we get kind of excited about it or give them something specific, you know, to notice or tell us about it when they're done, then it makes them a little bit more active participant.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Absolutely. Yeah. With kids of all ages, All the way up.

Jill Stowell: Yup. Well, Samantha, thank you so much for joining us and, and for all the heart and creativity that you're bringing to families. I think this conversation is going to give parents so much hope that they don't have to choose between peace and technology, you know, that there really can be a balance. So, thank you so much.

 

Dr. Samantha Hayes: Thank you for having me, Jill.

 

Jill Stowell: At Stowell Learning Centers, we help children and adults move beyond learning and attention challenges, including dyslexia, by strengthening the underlying skills that make learning easier. When those skills get stronger, everything changes, reading, writing, focus, confidence, even the stress around school. If this episode encouraged you, please like, subscribe and share it with another parent who needs to know that real change is possible.