☀️ Summer and Screen Time
Let’s talk about it without the guilt
Edition #224 | Read time: 5 Minutes
Hi Mamas,
First, how was your Mother’s Day? 🤍
We know this day can hold a lot. Maybe it was really sweet. Maybe it felt disappointing. We’d genuinely love to hear about it…the good, the bad, and anything in between. We’re your girls who get it.
We want to hear from YOU!
In June, we (Paula + Kristen from the CARRY™ team) are hosting podcast episodes for Paula’s podcast—and instead of guessing what you need, we want to hear it from YOU! What do you want us to talk about? No, seriously…we would love for you to take 1 minute to leave a comment!
👉 “I wish someone would talk about _____.”
👉 “I wish I had someone to ask ______.”
👉 Hot takes, rants, questions, topics.
👉 Something fun and light.
👉 A conversation you think moms need to hear right now.
We’re here for it all. Drop it in the comments, hit reply or email us at info@carrymedia.com.
We really can’t wait to hear what you want to hear this summer.
So Mother’s Day wraps up and then…BAM. Hard pivot straight into summer mode. Like okay??? Chill. Anyone else feels like it’s a little aggressive?
And somewhere in the middle of all that, we’re also supposed to create a magical, screen-free childhood while answering Slack messages and reheating our coffee for the fourth time.
How much screen time is too much? Should we feel guilty? How are we supposed to keep kids entertained while also working, cooking dinner, answering emails, cleaning the house, and trying to survive Maycember? HELP.
So let’s chat summer and screen time…from the reality that summer as a working parent often requires flexibility, creativity, boundaries, and yes…sometimes screens.
Enjoy!
-The Carry™ Team
This week in The CARRY™ ALL, we’re talking about:
📱 Screen Time Without Shame
🔒 A Digital Shopping Guide for Parents
💵 Summer Job Ideas for Tweens + Teens
As always, this is a space for our Carry™ community to connect with each other. Leave a comment and keep the conversation going. And, we bet there’s another mama that would love The Carry™ All in their inbox, too. Pass on the love!
Thinking of something else? Tell us in the comments 👇 Next week we’re talking all about holiday tips in the newsletter. We’d love to hear your thoughts & ideas!
THE BIG 1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣
1️⃣ 📱 Screen Time Without Shame
Reminder: screens are not moral indicators of your parenting.
Sometimes an iPad buys you the hour you need to finish work. Sometimes movie night is survival. Sometimes everyone is hot, overstimulated, and tired and Bluey saves the day. The goal doesn’t have to be zero screens. The goal can simply be more intentional screens.
Here are some practical tips for creating a summer screen time plan. And if you DO want fresh screen-free activity ideas, here’s a fun list.
2️⃣ 🔒 A Digital Shopping Guide for Parents
One of the hardest parts of parenting right now is figuring out what technology is actually safe and age-appropriate for kids.
Our friend Sarah put together a really helpful breakdown of devices, tech options, and digital resources for parents navigating it all.
If you’ve ever Googled “best starter phone for kids” and immediately spiraled…this one’s for you.
3️⃣ 💵 Summer Job Ideas for Tweens + Teens
Summer jobs don’t just help kids earn money. They can build confidence, responsibility, creativity, and independence too…while creating opportunities to spend more time off screens.
A few ideas depending on age:
Mother’s helper / Babysitting
Pet sitting or dog walking
Lawn mowing
Lifeguarding
Golf caddying
Car washing
Sports camp helper
Neighborhood snack or drink stand
Tutoring younger kids
Social media help for small businesses
Pool snack bar or rec jobs
Trash can service for neighbors (rolling cans to and from the street weekly or helping clean them out)
🤍 One thing we know about working moms? Someone always has a great idea.
Screen time tips, tech finds, parenting resources, summer jobs, boredom busters…drop your sanity savers so we can all steal them 😅
📰 IN THE NEWS
May is National Maternal Mental Health Month, and the statistics are sobering: 1 in 5 women experience depression or anxiety during the perinatal period, including pregnancy and the first year postpartum. Many more suffer silently because they don’t realize what they’re experiencing is common and treatable.
A reminder to check on the mamas in your life. Sometimes support starts with simply asking, “How are you really doing?” 🤍
📰 Check out the full article here.
🗳️ LAST WEEK’S POLL RESULTS
Here are a few things you had to say:
“When it's all said and done, I'm gonna miss May(cember)🤷🏻. Yesssss, it's crazy with all of the end of school stuff with the kids, but one day, I'm gonna miss it. I'm choosing to have an intentional perspective about it...this is only for a season and this too shall pass. Today, was so much fun getting to watch our daughter's award ceremony, Senior signing, and then clap out-- I gladly invited the interruption into my work day. Every moment matters. These are the days we're gonna remember, mamas. Hang in there💜”
“Mother's day is always a complicated one with broken relationships, difficult decisions, hurt feelings, it's just all too much. I try to just enjoy my family on the day but leading up to the day is hard.”
“May means testing seasons for school kids, and I coordinate testing in a 7th-12th grade building, so I am looking forward to May 22, when all the tests and makeups will be behind me, after over a month of various testing!”
What do you do when you realize you should have booked that weekend trip in August to the place you wanted to go to back in March, because now it is booked for the whole month of August. Or how about when family keeps changing their mind on what they would like to do...