parenting

When it comes to smart phone addiction , we've done our own experiments with putting away our phones around our kids here at Cool Mom Tech. We've even used various techniques to manage screen time for our own kids and tweens. That's why …

For those of you with teens applying to college, if you're wondering whether college admissions officers check student social media accounts, the definitive answer is "yes." This is clearly evidenced by this week's incident in which Harv…

With summer unofficially here and lots of road trips on the horizon, we're always looking for new podcasts. In our experience, personal recommendations go a very long way, especially from fellow podcasters (that's us!). Related: How to d…

Wait, what? You're not listening to our Spawned podcast ? Well, we're just going to have to help you change that! We think it's a wonderful way to spend 30 minutes in your week, and we hope after listening that you think so too. If you'r…

When Guy Raz, of NPR's TED Radio Hour and Wow in the World podcast fame, recommends a website for kids, you go, because, obvy. And no surprise, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Storyline Online is a fantastic resource for parents that you migh…

In a recent survey of 1500 young people aged 14-24, researchers discovered that Instagram was cited as the most damaging to a young person , followed closely by Snapchat, and then Facebook. In fact, YouTube was the only of the 5 networks…

We're not huge fans of sending emails on the fly, even with the "Sent from our iPhone and talk-to-text hates us" warning at the bottom. But if we do, there are 3 handy iPhone email tricks we use to make them look as buttoned up as they w…

Maybe we need to be worrying more about our own social media addiction more than our teen's, at least, that's according to a new survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research . They discovered that teen…

Just this week, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) released new recommendations for middle and high school students , stating they should not start school until 8:30am, which for my middle schooler would be a full hour and a h…

If you think spying and snooping on your kids' social media behavior will help keep them safer, a new study in the Journal of Adolescence actually suggests otherwise, this recent post on Well Family discusses. In a survey of 455 adolesce…

So, you've seen all the cool photos that parents are sharing of their kids on Instagram and you're wondering how to take better Instagram photos of kids. Well, you don't need to be a pro-photog to snap fantastic photos of your own kids. …

If you've got toddlers on screens during the day, a new study out of England suggests it could be cutting into their sleep at night. And as we parents know, sleep is a precious commodity. Looking at data from about 700 British families, …

Last year my husband and I gifted our two older kids with their own iPod and Kindle, and along with the devices came a contract that outlined our expectations for using them. As my friends have started getting wifi-connected tablets or p…

Instagram is one of my favorite places for all sorts of inspiration, whether it's a pair of shoes I'm coveting, or a great recipe from Cool Mom Eats I want to try in my own kitchen. But if you're like me, you snap a screen shot and then …

Just recently, mom and journalist Laura June discovered her 3-year old daughter had stumbled upon some pretty scary Peppa Pig YouTube videos . As it turns out, there are tons and tons of kid video parodies, most of which are aimed at adu…

I'm always a little more motivated to get to my chores when there's a little reward involved, like watching a guilty pleasure TV show while I fold laundry. It's the same for my kids, and the Stridepost app (iOS and Android ) helps them s…

With so many families ditching land lines and moving strictly to mobile phones, the biggest issue has been what to do when you need to call 911. In fact, it's such a big deal that I know lots of parents who have decided to keep their lan…

My kids are master negotiators when it comes to screen time, which is why we've never been successful with cookie-cutter methods to manage it. Sorry, Marble Jar . So that's why I'm excited about the free unGlue app (iOS and Android ), wh…

Back when iOS 10 hit and the iPhone 7 launched , we mentioned the Favorites widget which you will find on your iPhone when you swipe right from your home page or locked screen. Found it yet? Okay, good. Turns out, it's one of our most fa…

Like so many other folks out there, we're obsessed with The Instant Pot , a hot, new kitchen gadget you might have discovered here on Cool Mom Tech. (And if not, hey, it's okay, we forgive you. Ha). Recently, our food editor Stacie Billi…

With the recent CloudPets hack , and others like it (remember Hello Barbie ?), it's becoming clearer that smart toys, particularly the stuffed animal kind, could pose a privacy risk that parents should know about. Don't get us wrong, we …

We've found that managing screen time is one of the most common across-the-board challenges parents in this digital age face. And hey, with six kids between us, we understand how difficult it can be, especially when just going gadget-fre…

Along with Turtle Mail, one of my other favorite finds at Toy Fair was Helio , a cool, educational nightlight that actually helps your kids learn as they fall asleep. And as someone with a child who has sleep issues , you can probably gu…

One of my favorite new discoveries at Toy Fair 2017 was Turtle Mail , a cool WIFI-connected gadget that actually lets you send messages to your kids without them needing a screen. That's because your little notes print out like a cash re…