I’ve created this space on my website as there appears to be a vast number of parents and carers requesting support on AI, screen time and digital wellbeing.
On this page I will endeavour to link to partners who are doing great things for parents: raising awareness, providing support or a space to discuss issues, inspiring ideas and generally letting parents and carers know they are not alone.
Here are some of the most helpful websites I’ve encountered so far:
ParentBites – For parents who are doing their best in a digital world they didn’t grow up in. The structured framework digital parenting has been missing. No fear, no judgment, and no rigid rules. Just calm, clear guidance to help you navigate the AI era with confidence.
Unplugged Tots – Unplugged Tots empowers our children to be the problems solvers, inventors, engineers, scientists and technologists of tomorrow by equipping them with the skills they’ll need. No screens, just human logic, connection and fun.
Screens Off! – The Big Screen Switch Off is an idea based around helping our children (and ourselves) regulate screen time. Let’s start small. How about for 3 hours every week, between the hours of 5pm and 8pm on a Wednesday, we all turn off our phones, TVs, Nintendo Switches, VRs and whatever else we’ve got illuminated in front of our eyes?
I’ll be adding more as I discover them, please do get in touch if you run or know of any excellent resources for parents.
I also plan to run some parent workshops (in person local ot Southampton UK, but also online and some in collaboration with other organisations).
These opportunities will appear as blog posts below:
Latest blog posts for Parents and Carers…
Don’t you ever just…. switch off?
My kids would probably spend their entire free time on their screens if they could. Coming from a generation where if there was nothing on the TV you wanted to watch, you went and did something else. But with the age of ‘instant on demand whatever-you-want’ there never seems to be a screen down time.…
The Big Screen Switch Off
I’m hoping to start an initiative to help children and families take regular breaks from their screens. What do you think? Has this got legs? There is a survey on the website you can fill in, let me know what you think… https://screensoff.org/ The launch date is 5pm, Wednesday 7th August 2024
Childhood Anxiety – Tech Resources
As a parent and a teacher, I really value opportunities to talk about mental health and wellbeing with children. Most of the time, just having the conversation does a wealth of good; letting kids know it’s OK to talk about it and OK to feel different. However, there are going to be times when you…
Book review- “micro: bit in Wonderland” by Tech Age Kids
I have received a copy of micro:bit in Wonderland by Tech Age Kids (Tracy Gardner and Elbrie de Kock). It is beautifully illustrated using original images and quotes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and is packed full of projects related to the story, to be created using BBC’s micro:bit. This book is admittedly my first…
Mr Wickins Reads
Some of you may know that as well as creating training videos on computing in primary schools, I also have on my YouTube channel a playlist of me reading kids’ stories (only the BEST books!), usually to my own kids and usually in funny voices. It’s called Mr Wickins Reads, and has so far generated…
Run Don't Walk 