Screens Down, Sun’s Up Camp

09/25/2026

"Every parent knows the feeling of watching a child disappear into a screen," said Rep. Houchin. "These platforms were engineered by the smartest people in the world to hold attention, and they are winning that fight against our kids. Studies show that sixteen is the right line. This bill draws it clearly, applies it to every platform that uses these addictive features, and puts real enforcement behind it. Kids get their childhood back, and parents get a bright line they can rely on."

"Social media corporations addict children for profit. The exploitation must stop. Our kids deserve their childhoods back." said Rep. Auchincloss.

WASHINGTON—Congresswoman Erin Houchin (R-IN-09) and Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D-MA-04) today introduced the 16 & Up Social Media Act, bipartisan legislation that establishes a national age standard of 16 for social media platforms. The bill responds to a simple reality: platforms built on infi...

09/17/2026

❤️☀️

✏️ It turns out the ultimate ed-tech innovation for fixing student focus was invented in 1795: the pencil.

After a decade of spending billions giving every student a laptop, a growing wave of U.S. classrooms and universities are quietly slamming the screens shut. The result? Test scores, reading comprehension, and student sanity are skyrocketing.

The breakdown of the low-tech revolution sweeping American education:

📖 The Confidence Explosion: When high school classrooms swapped PDF textbooks and Chromebooks for physical books and notebook paper, student reading confidence shot from 46% up to 95% in a single semester.

✍️ Deep Processing Over Copy-Pasting: Brain scans and cognitive studies consistently show that writing by hand builds deeper memory circuits than typing on a keyboard. Instead of mindless transcription or letting AI do the heavy lifting, students are actually synthesizing ideas again.

🧠 The End of "Tab-Switching Brain": Teachers report that removing laptops eliminates the constant background temptation to check tabs, play browser games, or stare at notifications. Nearly 80% of students themselves admit it’s drastically easier to organize complex thoughts on physical paper.

🗣️ Actual Human Interaction: Banning classroom screens didn't just boost grades—it brought back face-to-face conversation. Students are actually talking to each other before the bell rings instead of staring silently into light-emitting diodes.

For years, school districts were told that handing a 14-year-old a laptop was the key to future success. It turns out, forcing kids to slow down, hold a pen, and turn a physical page is the real modern superpower.

09/03/2026

05/27/2026

Summer Schedule:
10:00 am - 1:30 pm

Tues June 30th
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Thurs July 30th

05/04/2026

PARENTS - The Washington County Community Foundation has an amazing opportunity coming up for parents and guardians of all school age children the first week in June. They are bringing in an AI expert for three evening sessions. These sessions are free and will be highly informative for parents and guardians navigating the AI world.

02/05/2026

🚨 Why online safety rules for kids matter 🚨

Predators don’t hang out in dark alleys anymore — they hide in games, chats, and apps pretending to be kids. They look for children who are unsupervised, lonely, or taught to keep secrets.

Strong rules + open conversations = protection.
Monitoring devices isn’t “controlling,” it’s parenting.
Teaching kids to speak up isn’t fear-based, it’s empowering.

🛡️ Our job is not just to raise kind kids…
It’s to raise safe kids.

“Train up a child in the way he should go…” — Proverbs 22:6

Protect their hearts.
Protect their minds.
Protect their childhood.



⸻

🧱 1. LOCK DOWN THE TECH (first line of defense)

📱 Phones & tablets:

✔ Use parental controls (Apple Screen Time / Google Family Link)
✔ Turn OFF:
• private messaging from strangers
• location sharing
• unknown contacts
• app downloads without permission
✔ No phone in bedroom at night
✔ Devices charge in common area

🎮 Games (Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, etc):

✔ Disable:
• voice chat
• private messaging
• friend requests from strangers
✔ Only allow:
• friends they know in real life
✔ Check:
• usernames
• chat logs
• friend lists

Predators look for:
• kids with open chats
• kids who are lonely
• kids who aren’t monitored
• kids who overshare

So supervision alone blocks MOST of them.

⸻

🧠 2. TEACH KIDS THE RULES (in kid language)

Kids need clear, simple rules:

🟥 Never:
• share real name, school, age, address
• send pictures of your body
• accept gifts or game currency
• move to private chats
• keep secrets from parents

🟩 Always:
• tell a parent if someone makes them uncomfortable
• block & report
• show messages immediately
• trust their “uh-oh” feeling

You can say:

“No adult online should ever need your help, secrets, or pictures.”

That sentence alone protects A LOT.

⸻

🚩 3. TEACH WARNING SIGNS

Teach kids that predators:
• pretend to be kids
• give gifts or praise
• ask personal questions
• ask for secrecy
• slowly make things weird
• say “don’t tell your parents”
• say “your parents wouldn’t understand”

Tell them:

“Anyone who asks you to hide something from me is not safe.”

⸻

❤️ 4. KEEP COMMUNICATION OPEN (this is HUGE)

Predators succeed when kids are:
• afraid of punishment
• ashamed
• lonely
• bored
• unsupervised
• emotionally disconnected

So aim for:
✔ calm responses
✔ no freak-outs
✔ curiosity over anger
✔ “Thank you for telling me”
✔ frequent check-ins

Make it normal to say:

“Anyone talk to you today online?”

Not:

“Are you doing something wrong?”

⸻

✝️ 5. SPIRITUAL + MORAL TEACHING (biblical side)

Teach kids:
• their body belongs to God
• their body is private
• no one gets to touch or see it
• God wants them safe, not polite

Verse that fits:
“The prudent see danger and take refuge.” — Proverbs 22:3

Also:
Jesus was very harsh toward child abusers
(Matthew 18:6 — the millstone verse… not subtle.)

Protection is righteous.

⸻

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 6. REAL-WORLD RULES

✔ No private online chats with adults
✔ No webcams with strangers
✔ No meeting anyone from online
✔ No sleepovers with devices unsupervised
✔ Know every adult who has access to them
✔ Trust your gut about people

Predators go where:
• supervision is weak
• boundaries are fuzzy
• trust is blind
• rules are vague

So clarity = safety.

⸻

🚨 7. IF YOU EVER SUSPECT SOMETHING

DO NOT:
❌ confront predator directly
❌ shame child
❌ erase messages

DO:
✔ screenshot everything
✔ save usernames
✔ report to:
• the app
• school (if relevant)
• local police
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)

01/22/2026

It’s hard to know the best way to parent in this digital age. With all of the information and words out there, not sure about the accuracy of this article but something to consider. And good news, attention spans can improve with some change in habits. 😃☀️

In 2025, a strange corner of the internet exploded into children’s feeds almost overnight. Italian brain rot! It’s loud, chaotic, hyper-edited videos featuring absurd characters, nonsense language, distorted visuals, and relentless stimulation. This content has amassed tens of billions of views across YouTube and TikTok. And many parents didn’t even realise it existed until their child was already watching it.

Italian brain rot isn’t just “silly internet content” or another passing kids’ trend, it’s a signal of how far children’s media has drifted from supporting developing brains.

The issue isn’t that it’s weird, absurd, or makes no sense. Kids have always loved nonsense. The issue is how this content is engineered. Italian brain rot is AI-generated and built to overwhelm the senses. For young children, whose brains are still developing attention, impulse control, and emotional regulation, the level of stimulation the content they’re watching provides really does matter.
When content is designed purely to hold attention for as long as possible, it can make calmer activities feel boring by comparison. Transitions become harder. Emotions feel bigger. And children are often blamed for being “addicted” or dysregulated, when in reality they’re responding exactly as their brains are wired to respond.

Hit the below for a complete deep dive into Italian Brainrot, and gain a deeper understanding so you can better support your child, whether they watch it or not.

➡️ https://open.substack.com/pub/thedadvibes/p/italian-brain-rot-is-destroying-kids?r=2sgoda&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay

11/30/2025

Thanksgiving Craft, Bingo, Snack, and Skit. So thankful for our quick little Thanksgiving camp, their laughter, sweet connections, and the precious gift of kids that God has given us.