If we’re honest, one of the main reasons we parents struggle with our teens and technology is because we’re scared of being disliked.

• “I know she took her phone into her room past bedtime, and I know we said that was against the rules, but what am I gonna do? Take away her phone? She’ll be so mad.”
• “If I tell him he can’t have a Snapchat account till he’s 14, he won’t talk to me again.”

Before you decide what the rules will be for each age, and before you decide what consequences and privileges you’ll enact, say this aloud:

I do not need to be liked, I do not need to be thanked, I do not even need to be treated with respect. What I need is to be clear, courageous, and calm.

You can do this.

Peace begins with pause,