Electronics (Computers/Video Games/Television/Cell Phones)
John's Most Recent Articles
Keep Kids Away From Screen-Based Devices
Posted on 4/12/2022
Psychologist, author, and professor Russell Barkley, widely regarded as one of America’s leading ADHD experts, used to be (and may, for all I know, still be) fond of ridiculing me in his public...
Read MoreSmartphone Addiction Is Real
Posted on 3/10/2021
Concerning my prior use of the word “addiction” in association with smart phones and children (including teens), some people think I am speaking figuratively. To set the record straight: No, I am...
Read MoreThe Realities of Smartphones and Teenagers
Posted on 9/20/2020
A mother in California seeks her pastor’s opinion on allowing her fifteen-year-old son to have a smartphone. The boy claims that if he can’t use social media, he will have no friends. Mom is...
Read MoreTeenage Girls and Boys Respond to Technology Differently
Posted on 10/2/2019
Q: We held off giving our oldest daughter a smartphone until she was fifteen, the age at which we allowed her older brother to have one. We read your column weekly in our hometown newspaper and...
Read MoreParenting in an Age of Technology: Video Game Addiction
Posted on 4/16/2019
Julie Jargon is a reporter with the Wall Street Journal. Heretofore, she has written about food companies like Starbucks and McDonalds. As of April 2, however, Ms. Jargon is writing a WSJ column...
Read MoreSimple Solutions for Teens, Tantrums and Smartphones
Posted on 12/4/2018
Q: Our 15-year-old daughter is very demanding and, to be honest, self-centered. One of the things she does is ask one of us for something and demand an instant decision, as in, “Can I go to the...
Read MoreTake Smartphone Away from Sassy Teen
Posted on 2/21/2018
Q: When our daughter, an only child, turned thirteen and entered the 8th grade, it was like a switch was flipped. Almost overnight, she went from being a sweet, respectful and obedient child who...
Read MoreVideo Game Addiction Worsening Problem for Teens
Posted on 9/6/2017
Responding to my recent columns on video games and smart phones, a reader asks what the problem is, thus proving that these devices can and do cause serious harm to one’s cognitive hardware. He,...
Read MoreParents Should Not Allow Smartphones
Posted on 8/9/2017
When I was a child, a popular comic strip was "There Oughta Be a Law." It ran in the paper that came to our doorstep every morning and was one of the first things I went to when it was my turn to...
Read MoreControl the Controller, Defeat the (Video Game) Addiction
Posted on 7/26/2017
Have you ever heard of an addict who was cured of his or her addiction because someone limited, but did not eliminate, their access to the substance or behavior in question? No, you have not. Is...
Read MoreRecent Questions
SMART PHONES, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND NARCISSISM
Posted 4 weeks ago
How can I teach my 16 year old daughter to think of others? We have just started limiting and putting boundaries on her phone time, which we know we were wrong in waiting to do. We try to model it...
Read MoreTechnology and the Preteen Boy
Posted on 4/26/2023
Aloha, I want to use the weekly ticket system, or throwing the child out of the garden, to discipline my 12 year old son (6th grade). The problem lies in that much of the homework now is given...
Read MoreBeFuddled Father Facing Four Females
Posted on 4/10/2023
Hello, I know you don't know the history at all with my step-daughters. However, we gave out Easter candy to our 3 daughters (2 step-daughter and one is my own). The 16 year old step-daughter...
Read MoreWhat Do I Do if My Child Is the Bully?
Posted on 4/1/2023
What do you do when you find out your child is the bully? Recently, I read my 13-year-old son's text thread and learned he was verbally bullying another child. Reading further, he also...
Read More"Milquetoastness": the Bane of a Father; plus, a 15-Year Old's Enslavement
Posted on 10/12/2022
15 y.o. son is in a split living situation- one week with Mom, one week with Me. I am trying to figure out what to do with him and technology. Video gaming has become an addiction. I am okay with...
Read MoreDitch the "Smart" Phones
Posted on 10/1/2022
Hello, After coming in contact with your blog, I (dad) am trying to be more macro manager and not micro with my two girls, ages 13 and 11. They have iPhones. Should I be setting a screen time...
Read MoreKeeping Kids off Friends' Electronic Devices
Posted on 8/8/2022
We live in an HOA community with small backyards, so we can't tell our boys to play in the backyard all day though we have a trampoline. Instead, we hoped that our kids would play with the...
Read MoreGet Creative
Posted on 7/24/2022
Greetings! Our usually cheerful and happy 4yo daughter does not seem to react normally to punishment. At first she gets upset and cries, but very shortly into a time out or being sent to her room...
Read MorePosted on 5/27/2022
.Our 16-year daughter is the last of three children. Our son is 29 and resides in South Africa with his wife. Our daughter, 20, has returned from college this summer. My husband believes in...
Read MoreTime for a Reboot
Posted on 5/18/2022
Since the first email our son (8yrs) was operated on for septic arthritis 6 months ago. The pain returned 2weeks ago (now gone). His hip bone has a small weakness and he needs to ensure he has no...
Read MoreAudio
The Three R's of Parenting - Part 2
Posted on 3/16/2023
Many of today's parents have been misled by the culture into believing that their job is to produce the next Mozart or champion athlete, and have lost sight of the idea that the family is God's...
Read MoreTopics Covered
- ADHD and other disorders
- Adoption/Foster Parent
- Aggression
- Allowances
- Alpha Speech
- Anxieties, Fears
- Arguments with Children
- Audio Files
- Bedtime/Sleep
- Bedwetting
- Behavior Modification
- Biblical Parenting
- Bill of Rights for Children
- Bonding With Baby/Child
- Boundaries
- Bullies/Bullying
- Character/Values (teaching)
- Chores/Responsibilities
- College
- Consequences/Punishment
- Daycare/Preschool
- Depression/Self-Harm
- Developmental Issues (e.g. late talking)
- Discipline Methods (e.g. time-out)
- Disobedience/Defiance
- Divorce/Custody
- Drugs (marijuana, cocaine, etc.)
- Education
- Electronics (Computers/Video Games/Television/Cell Phones)
- Elementary School
- Extracurricular Activities/Hobbies
- Fathers
- Food/Eating Problems
- Gender
- Gentle Parenting
- Grandparents/Grandchildren
- High School
- Homeschooling
- Homework
- John's Discipline Methods
- Learning Disabilities
- Lying
- Manners
- Marriage Issues
- Mealtime/Eating
- Mental Health
- Middle School
- Miscellaneous Discipline Problems
- Miscellaneous Editorial Columns
- Mothers
- Nouveau Parenting
- Only Children
- Pacifiers/Security Blankets/Thumbsucking
- Parent Leadership and Authority
- Play
- Post Modern Psychological Parenting
- Preschool
- Psychology
- Rebellious Behavior
- Respect
- Rewards
- School Issues
- Seasons of Parenting
- Self-Esteem
- Seven Biggest Mistakes Parents Make
- Sexual Issues
- Shyness
- Sibling Conflict
- Single Parents
- Social Issues (fighting/arguing with friends)
- Socialization/Social Skills
- Spanking
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- Strong-Willed Child
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- Terrible Twos
- Toilet Training
- Videos
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