Digital Detox

Leading your family means you constantly are evaluating what they need to stay healthy, connected to each other, and developing into the best of what God wants them to become. It's not easy...and it's not an exact science. We have four kids of which three are teens (well, actually 2.9). For me, it's been the greatest stage of parenting so far--but man, it takes work!

Lately I've been feeling the need for all of us to unplug. We live in such an electronic world (which I love because I'm a huge techno-geek!). But I think we all need to come down occasionally from the constant connection to the world "out there" -- and take time to just focus on those closest to us. I know my teens have huge pressures at school and in their friendships. Back in the day, I had pressure also. But when I came home, I could escape. Unless the phone rang...those problems weren't going to be in my face. In today's world, students can't get away from it. With texting and Facebook and email and Twitter and online gaming--those pressures are many times facing kids 24/7. And yes, as parents we limit their digital time, but we have no desire to restrict them from it completely...as that would be no way to prepare them for the realities of the world.

So several weeks ago I started looking for a spot on the calendar for an unplugged weekend. Today, the six of us will be driving four hours north for an extended weekend in a cabin in Manistee, Michigan. It's very nice--but has no cell service and no internet. And that will help us detox from the world so we are in a better place, as a family, to face it.

What do you do to help your family digitally detoxify?