How to raise a white hat hacker

Today in the Christian Science Monitor’s Passcode, I look at what it takes to turn a curious, tech-minded kid into an ethical hacker.

The Final Four-Year-Old

The NCAA’s Final Four may determine who rules the court, but the Final Four-Year-Old determines who rules the playground. Here’s my bracket for the 2016 Sparkle Tots championship.    

9 kid-friendly meals for children outside of NYC

The New York Times has posted a roundup of 14 kid-friendly meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less….if you have the kind of kid who likes food seasoned with anchovies, cumin or ginger. If, on the other hand, you are raising a child who does not ask to...

Wanted: A quantified child app for helping special needs kids

When you’ve got a special needs kid, you’re often trying successive strategies or interventions to help your kid develop new emotional, cognitive or behavioral skills. But if you’re also on the roller coaster of living with a challenging kid, it can...

How to lock your kids out of every device

I wrote my Ph.D. thesis on hacktivism: politically-motivated computer hacking. Interviewing fifty politically engaged computer hackers turned out to be great preparation for running a business that built nonprofit online communities, because I really know how to speak...

How to balance evening work with family life: the 2×2

Blame it on after-hours email, but it seems like the extended workday is here to stay. If your household is anything like ours, you often have work to do in the evening…and if you’re a parent, that means that work often intrudes on family time. To help...

The Five Competencies of Social and Emotional Learning

Social and emotional learning focuses on five key competencies. These are framed slightly differently by different organizations, so I have created a table that incorporates the (verbatim) descriptions found on several different sites. Dalai Lama Center: Heart-Mind...

How to end screen time without tears

Turning off the phone, TV or videogame is hard. Here’s how to make that transition easier for you and your child — and to build your child’s core skills in the process.

What kind of digital parent are you?

My recent piece for The Atlantic, Parents: Reject Technology Shame, tackles the question of how to raise kids in a digital world. Data from more than 10,000 North American parents shows that they are deeply divided on this question, and that there are three distinct...

Threat-based parenting: Dos and Don’ts

As featured on Medium, a handy guide to getting those pesky kids under control with the power of threats. Thanks to the rise of screens, there’s never been a better time for threat-based parenting.