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Last week I asked about your hopes and dreams for 2026.
One of the most common answers I hear from parents? "I just want more connection with my kids." More meaningful conversations. More quality time. More of those moments where you actually see each other instead of just existing in the same space. That's a beautiful hope. But here's what gets in the way: We're all distracted. The phone buzzes. We check it "real quick." The kids see us scrolling. They learn that screens are more important than presence. And slowly, without even realizing it, connection slips away. What if there was a simple way to protect connection? Phone-Free Zones (or Times)I'm not talking about going off-grid or throwing your phone in a lake. Just creating small pockets of time where screens don't get a vote. Try one of these: Phone-Free Dinners Basket by the door. Everyone's phone goes in (yes, even yours). Dinner is for talking, connecting, being together. No scrolling. No checking. Just presence. Phone-Free Sunday Mornings From wake-up until noon, phones stay in charging area. Make breakfast together. Play a game. Talk. Be bored together. Let connection happen naturally. Phone-Free Bedtime Routines 30 minutes before bed, phones go away. Reading, talking, connecting - without the blue light and digital distraction competing for attention. Pick One. Just One.You don't have to do all three. You don't have to be perfect. Just pick one phone-free zone or time and protect it. Watch what happens. Your kids might complain at first. You might feel the urge to check "just once." That's normal. But stick with it. Because here's what I've seen again and again: When screens aren't competing for attention, connection shows up. Kids share things they wouldn't have otherwise. Conversations go deeper. Silly moments happen. You actually see each other. That hope for more connection? It starts with small, intentional choices like this. This Week's Challenge:Choose one phone-free zone or time. Tell your family about it, ask for their help. Start this week. Notice what changes. Notice what you gain. Your hope for more connection doesn't require a complete life overhaul. It just requires protecting space for it to happen.
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 Let’s face it - it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the demands of daily life. Add parenting on top of whatever else is already going on in your life and it can be downright chaotic. The pressure to do it all, and to do it all well, can be intense. Here are a few strategies to simplify some key areas to help you create a more balanced and peaceful family environment.
Time Commitments: Prioritize What Matters Time is a limited resource, and how we choose to spend it profoundly impacts our family life. Sports practices and games, church youth group, band or choir concerts, dance, therapy, school clubs and other extracurriculars add up quickly; multiply it by a few kids and you can have a wild schedule to navigate. I want to invite you to join me in the "Phone Down Challenge" for two weeks. Phone away for one hour a day Here's what it looks like: *Put your phone down for one hour in the afternoon when you're with your child/ children Sounds simple, but we know it is likely to be hard. Stick with me. When: an ideal time to do the phone down challenge is when you reconnect with your kids after school or after your work day. If your kids are home with you all day, choose an hour, maybe after quiet time. Practical tips: *turn the phone to silent if possible or use a "focus" setting, allowing calls from only your key contacts *put the phone out of sight so you're not distracted by it Benefits: *create new patterns *increased connection with your kids *a chance for your mind to focus on just one thing, rather than multi-tasking *increased peace and decreased frazzled feelings *modeling for your kids You've probably heard many times that we are more "connected" to others now than at any other time in history, YET people are feeling more alone. This isn't just a cute saying, "more connected, yet more alone", it's real. It's happening in our homes, as we repeatedly pick up and stare at our phones, rather than give our loved ones our full attention, our loving eye contact, our time and connection. What might we be missing, as we check our social media on the side as our child is telling us about their day, or when we skip sitting down together for a meal or snack so we can get one more thing done on our device? Our kids are learning by our example. It's sort of sad to see a row of parents staring at their phones at a park, rather than interacting with their kids, or a mom feeding her baby while scrolling her phone. Those moments of loving eye contact and connection matter. Our kids will be better equipped to have successful future relationships if we take the time now to show them what healthy connection looks like. Honestly, our phones distract us from doing this. Of course there are lots of great things our phones can do, I'm not suggesting we throw them away. But this challenge is about being more mindful. The benefits of putting the phone down for one hour a day will far out weight the inconvenience. This challenge is for me as well. I can get sucked into the trap of trying to get one more thing done on my phone, and somehow prioritize that, over connecting with my child. I need to be mindful. I hope you will join me. My expectation is that you'll start to see the benefits in these two weeks, and I hope you will want to continue with the Phone Down Challenge. But for now...can you commit to the challenge for two weeks? Click the button and say "I'm in" Here's a quick link to a video about the phone down challenge:
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AuthorDana Parisi Archives
February 2026
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