Screens Are Raising Our Kids (And Us)

If the iPad had a résumé, “babysitter” would be listed under special skills.

Let’s get one thing clear: this isn’t a guilt trip. It’s a reality check -the kind with sticky fingerprints and Cocomelon blaring in the background.

We’ve all done it. Passed the phone over at a café. Thrown on a show so we could finish a sentence. Handed the iPad over so we could just have five minutes of peace. That little rectangle has become the new pacifier -for them, and if we’re honest, for us too.

We’re not judging -we’re reflecting.

Screens are shaping how our kids self-soothe, relate, and even rest.
And let’s be honest… they’re shaping us too.

This isn’t about judgment. It’s about awareness.

Screens have crept into nap time, mealtime, family time, even bath time (seriously, waterproof cases now?). They’re helping our kids regulate emotions, soothe boredom, and avoid conflict before they’ve even learned how to spell “boredom.”
But here’s the kicker -they’re doing the same to us.

We reach for our phones to fill the silence, calm our nerves, or escape the chaos. We’re modeling tech use without even realizing it -and our kids? They’re watching everything.

The digital hand-me-down effect.

Kids don’t learn tech habits from school policies or TikTok warning labels. They learn them from us. From how we scroll at traffic lights. From how we check emails at dinner. From how we go quiet and glazed mid-convo because something buzzed.

Screens aren’t just raising our kids. They’re shaping us while we parent. They’re slipping into the rituals that used to define connection -bedtime stories, board games, slow Sunday mornings.

And look -we’re not about banning screens and building yurts in the hills. This isn’t a binary world of “tech bad / nature good.” It’s about rewiring how we engage with tech on purpose -and teaching our kids to do the same.

So what do we do?

We repattern. We start small.

• Make one meal a day screen-free -and not just for the kids.

• Pause before handing over a device -is it a tool or a reflex?

• Narrate your own habits aloud: “I’m checking the weather,” vs mindlessly doom scrolling.

We treat tech not as the villain, but as the untrained puppy that needs boundaries.
We reclaim moments -not all of them, just the ones that matter.
And we model the very habits we hope they’ll one day teach their own kids.

Because the truth is -screens may be everywhere. But presence?
That’s still a choice.