1. Lying about the child’s age. This comes up when setting up accounts on adult sites. (By that I mean sites that are generally used by adults and not kids, but for purposes I’ve deemed appropriate for someone younger than the 18-year-old requirement. )…

OK, I’ll admit it: As a parent, I get tired of saying no. That’s why I gravitate to plans or programs to help kids limit the length of time they spend in the front of the TV or on the computer, rather than the endless nagging: ”You’ve already used your TV time. (And this time I mean it.)” Here are some tricks that kids often find more palatable than a more straightforward “two hours per day” mandate.

I have a new and longreaching goal when it comes to technology in our family life: nonjudgment. Here’s why.

Several weeks ago, a friend and I attended a seminar on parenting and technology. The leaders opened up the evening by asking audience members to pose their questions up front, so the questions could be answered during the presentation. I was totally blown away by the intensity of the questions. In fact, three-fourths of the parents who raised their hands actually had very small questions but very large, impassioned rants that surrounded them. As…

When Andy was three, I was chatting with a more experienced mom about her part-time job. “Do you enjoy it?” I asked. “What I love is that no one touches my desk when I’m gone.” At the time, I was too much of a newbie parent to understand. I said, “Oh!” but I thought, “Huh?” It didn’t take long, though, as my three-year-old got more adventurous, to totally appreciate her point. As a parent, your children gradually permeate every corner of your world until very little is left untouched. It’s nice…

We’re revamping our family computer/TV limits this week, and I thought I’d give you an update on what we’re thinking. (But shh…kids have yet to be informed.)

 There are two parts to this. The first is easy — the rules. There are four:

1. Every Wednesday will be a screen-free day. (Thanks, Sally.) This was a no-brainer. It feels manageable. And I like that the rule applies to parents too. I used to be religious about Turn-Off-the-TV-Week each…

I was scanning Ask.Metafilter.com today and came across what I thought was a profound thought. The user asked the community to suggest ways a father could prevent his daughter from going online after bedtime, and said he was open to either technology or social fixes to the problem. One fellow, “blue_beetle”, had a brilliant response:

Don’t look for technical solutions to behavioral problems. If you fix the technology, she’ll find a way around it. Fix the behavioral problem.

Must remember that…

We recently ran into one of Alex’s preschool buddies and his mom at Target. Alex couldn’t resist announcing to his friend that he was buying a Ben 10 toy. “Ooh,” the mom said to him, “you’re lucky. My kids don’t get to watch that show.” (Translation: “We’re more responsible about limits than in your house.”) And I doubt my protest, “Oh, he hardly ever watches it. I don’t even know what channel it’s on,” rang true. For the uninitiated, Ben 10 is on Cartoon Network and