Page 8 - August Bliss Planet Health & Wellness Lifestyle Magazine

ferocious marketing. It’s harder
than ever to keep kids in the
real world, especially now that

adults have fallen down the
rabbit hole ourselves. To keep
screens in their proper places—
as servants to a rich, connected
family life—parents can
remember two things: 1)
Marketers are trying to get our

kids screen-addicted. 2) Parents
stand between children and
those marketers—and we make
family rules.

Saying “no” to screens is easier
when we’re also saying “yes” to
fun. We stock our living room

with games, art supplies, and
ukuleles—music is both fun and
good for brains— and our
backyard with sports equipment
and, as often as possible, live
people to play with. Our
neighbors loaded a wall of pegs

with dress-ups. My in-laws dedicate — which is why there’s growing
one room just for Lego-building. Find demand for age-appropriate climate
ways to encourage real-world play literacy in schools. Kids usually enjoy
that work for your family. learning about interconnected natural
systems that support their lives, and
Help them find reliable they certainly need tools for
information: As kids mature, they confronting our climate crisis. If your
learn about the risks associated with kids aren’t learning accurate science
drug use, sexual activity, and mental and solutions, join with other parents

health issues such as depression, and demand climate literacy from
anxiety, and eating disorders. school officials.
Learning to navigate all of this — and
get help when necessary — empowers At home, parents can help kids spot
teens entering adulthood. climate misinformation, whether from
textbooks, museums, or public
Climate breakdown also poses a officials. For accurate information, try

threat to children—the biggest threat, Inside Climate News, Yale Climate
in fact, that they face as a generation Connections, or Bill Nye’s shows. For