The One Tool NO Parent Should Be Without!!

I can’t believe I’m about to say this.

Aunt Shelly, if you’re reading, stop now!

… My Aunt Shelly reminds me of an iPad.

(Are you laughing? ‘Cause I’m not. Well, maybe a little bit, but hear me out…)

My Aunt Shelly is well-intentioned, and very helpful. Any time I need help with the kids, she’s more than eager to jump on in and lend a helping hand. She seems to know something about everything, and can make everyone laugh at the drop of a dime.

But the problem is this: I’ll drop the kids off for a playdate, and she’ll feed them candy instead of healthy snacks. She won’t put my youngest down for a nap because he ‘didn’t seem tired,’ and she’ll let the kids watch shows they could never watch on my clock.

With Aunt Shelly, there are no rules… And my rules – the rules I fight hard to establish – seem to go out the door. After Aunt Shelly time, the kids come home exhausted, fussy and stubborn.

… Is my tablet analogy starting to make sense yet?

Like with my Aunt Shelly, I try my hardest to exercise patience when it comes to my kids devices, but they make me feel powerless.

I know tech is ‘the way of the future’ and tablets have the power to teach my kids something about everything. They are also great for those moments when I just need a moment to myself (or distract my kid when I’m giving him a bowl cut). But the thing is… until recently I felt like when my kids were on their devices, I didn’t have a voice.

That is, until I made a magical discovery… (If you’re a parent, this is where you really need to start paying attention.)

Screens are great, but they’re a privilege. At the end of the day, I’m still Mom, and what I say should go.

I don’t want to eat a nice home cooked meal with distracted zombies. And I certainly don’t want to hand a tablet over to my kids and then have to argue to get it back.

Introducing OurPact.

OurPact is an app. (Well, it’s more than an app; it’s a life-saving miracle.)

What it does is this:

Parents install OurPact on their phone (iOS only), or sign up for their web app. After creating an account, you pair up your kids mobile (Android or iOS) devices.

Then, from within the app, you can remotely manage kids access to Internet and apps.

You can set up schedules to block devices automatically, say for bedtime 9PM-7AM Monday through Friday, or for school hours. Or, you can block access at-a-touch, from anywhere, at anytime.

This means the next time you ask your kids to put their devices away and they counter with “Just TWOOO more minutes!” you can counter with OurPact.

This means their device in your hands. This means accountability, and responsibility.

This means healthy device habits, and good nights of sleep.

This means quality family time, and the knowledge that even when your kids are with Aunt Shelly, your screen time rules apply.

‘Cause, you see, screens aren’t all bad. They’re only bad when they aren’t yours anymore.