In Indianapolis, the Oaks Academy’s “Million Minutes Challenge,” engages families in the goal of collectively logging one million minutes of tech-free play while away from school — reading, playing games and engaging in creative, hands-on activities, according to the Indianapolis Recorder.
Oaks Academy director of marketing and communications Brooke Reeves and parent Alicia Sanders offer these tips for tech-free activities:
- Getting started can be the hardest part, especially if a family depends on technology during their free time. Parents must find creative ways to solve the inevitable boredom.
- Be willing to do new things and think creatively about how it’s going on. Parents need to try it. It’s like building a muscle.
- Modeling the expected behavior without technology is necessary.
- Think how you as a parent can model being tech-free and maybe give up some of the ways you use technology to be more intentional with time you can spend with your children.
- Find activities to do outside of technology, such as participating in clubs, taking ride bikes together or learning to play chess. Have your children spend time with friends away from school.
- Be more intentional about scheduling a play date during the week.
- Take small steps to achieve the big goal of going tech-free, especially if your children are used to unlimited technology use.
Indianapolis Recorder
