parenting

A few years back, Kate tried out the smart, touchscreen Skylight Calendar to see if it was a helpful way to organize multiple family calendars in ways that benefit the whole family. TLDR; yes, she found it wildly helpful, and worth the p…

With back-to-school here, or just around the corner for some of us, I like to take the time to have reinforce some basic tech rules with my kids and have some important tech conversations before things get super hectic. Whether your kids…

If you need help for kids with anxiety, I am so grateful for these terrific mindfulness podcasts for kids. We all know that unfortunately, anxiety is on the rise for lots of children, including my own . Maybe you're trying to help a chil…

It's no secret that we are huge fans of Star Wars here at Cool Mom Tech, so when we heard that Headspace just launched new mindfulness and meditation content for kids 5-10 called Find Your Force with Star Wars , I rocketed over to watch …

Recently, Meta announced it would be launching new parental safety controls for teens in the form of tools and resources for both the Instagram social media app and their Meta Quest VR gaming headsets. The goal is to help parents better …

I'm among millions of parents all over the country concerned about widespread efforts to ban "controversial" books in our public libraries. Especially when the lists include some of our favorite books , and plenty of them are not "contro…

After a little texting debacle between my 11-year old and her friends, I realized that maybe I wasn't the only parent dealing with cell phone etiquette issues. And, after asking our Out Tech Your Kids group about the annoying cell phone …

We've officially hit the point of full Apple product saturation in our household -- and as so many parents in our Out Tech Your Kids community tell us, they have too. So what do you do when you're all basically on Apple devices, your kid…

We know that online mental health therapy access has exploded over the past two years, and increasingly so have other kinds of therapy. As a parent with a child in therapy (and a toddler who naps during the day), I know that just getting…

I'm grateful for any tech that makes bedtime easier, so I was excited to discover Netflix Jr.'s brand new Bedtime Stories podcast -- and I figured a whole lot of parents might be too. The podcast features some of my kids' favorite charac…

Even in pre-Covid days, I always hated sitting in a doctor's waiting room just thinking about the "bonus" rotovirus we were probably contracting on top of the ear infection we were there to treat. That's a big reason I am so excited abou…

If you're a fan of Paperless Post like we are, don't miss out on Paperless Flyers as a genius way to send out all your last-minute holiday invitations, school fundraisers, or to invite out-of-town family to the kids' end-of-year-recitals…

I'm absolutely fascinated by the way my own kids and step kids use tech to make ongoing gift wish lists -- the iOS Notes app has become the method of choice for them and so far, that's working pretty well for us. Then I saw Jessica Bradl…

We love when parents ask us "how do I know if my kid is ready for a cell phone?" It means you're conscientious, caring, and involved -- and of course, want to make sure that you're raising a kid to make good choices, and not who isn't th…

My teenage son and his friends are avid online gamers , so I recently broached the topic of good gaming etiquette for kids and teens with them. “What?” they asked, “You mean like when people tell you to go kill yourself when you mess up?…

I'm always on a quest for the best digital planner for the school year, because I have developed a very bad habit: Every year I get tempted by the beautiful, fun, old-fashioned paper planners I discover on Etsy or in our local stationery…

There are so many things you can do with an Amazon Echo , something I quickly learned after getting an Amazon Echo Dot for Christmas a few years ago .(It's no Echo Studio , but still...) I admit I was a little skeptical at first. What's …

We're all talking about "that" Wall Street Journal article about Instagram: Facebook Knows It's Toxic for Teen Girls . You're probably talking about it. Or your kids are. I know it's all we've been seeing in our social feeds this week ar…

As we mentioned on Cool Mom Picks , our team is off on a little break this week. Don't we all need one these days? (The answer is yes. Yes we do.) But hey, before we took off, we wanted to put together some of our very favorite summer te…

I've been on a search for the best waterproof iPad case, and after a long hunt I've found it! Or at least I hopeI have. So, of course, I had to share it here. Most parents want protective, waterproof iPad cases to protect against spills …

Like a lot of elder millennials, I resisted TikTok for a while. After all, why would I want to watch videos of toddlers spilling drinks when I can just look across my kitchen table? Sorry, Yeet Baby . But the more I delved into it, the m…

Last Amazon Prime Day , my partner bought an outstanding pair of Sony Noise Cancelling headphones , which are by many accounts the best best noise-cancelling headphones of 2021. He has not stopped raving about them for an entire year, an…

This past week, we had a fantastic chat with college coach and essay consultant Betsy Cadel on the Spawned Parenting Podcast. She offered so many incredible tips on making the college search and application process easier and less stress…

This is a sponsored message on behalf of Google For most parents, balancing screen time has always been a challenge. But over this last year, the struggle became even more real, with three in five parents allowing an increase in time spe…