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Growing Up Catholic Parent Conversations Taming Technology Six Parent Small Group Sessions on Screen Time

$22.00/parish
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subtitle:
Six Parent Small Group Sessions on Screen Time
eresource:
true
series:
Growing Up Catholic Parent Conversations
title:
Taming Technology
pricing:
$22.00/parish
per:
parish
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Gather your parents for faith-sharing and conversation while their children are in faith formation classes!

These small group sessions for parents are about where the rubber meets the road: the challenges and joys of parenting today. Here is a great way your parish or school can accompany your parents as they fulfill their important vocation.  Help your parents enter into meaningful conversations about how their faith informs their parenting and way of life and connect with other parents. In our experience, when you gather parents to discuss issues such as these, it's hard to get them to stop talking!

View all parent session resources here.


The topic of technology and screen use is a huge one for families today. It is a health issue, a social issue, a family issue, and an academic issue. It is also a spiritual issue, which is one reason Pope Francis has talked about it on numerous occasions.

This topic becomes a larger concern for parents during the tween and teen years, as many children are receiving their own smart phones and increasing their technology use. These sessions speak of the challenges of those years, but this resource is also for parents of much younger children (who are using screens at younger and younger ages).

This resource can be used as a followup to a viewing of Screenagers or on its own.  The leader guide explains how this resource can best be used from one to six small group sessions.

The sessions include:

  • Families and Screen Time - An overview to the challenges involved, a Catholic faith perspective, and how we might respond.
  • People Over Screens - An exploration of how screens can get in the way of our relationships and what we can do about it.
  • The Modern Time-Crunch - Insights into how technology has turned us into multi-taskers, and an argument for "the importance of boredom" so we can better care for our emotional, social, and spiritual lives.
  • Video Games and Social Media - A review of these aspects of technology—and the associated effects—which tend to impact boys and girls quite differently.
  • Setting Healthy Limits - An encouraging discussion of the importance of parents setting boundaries, and specific areas where these limits can be set around technology.
  • Writing a Family Agreement - This session steps the group through a helpful process for writing an agreement with their child about technology use, sharing what has worked well for other families.

Product Preview

This is a downloadable, reproducible product sold with a lifetime parish or school license. Please read the full license terms below.

Product License

This reproducible eResource is sold with a lifetime license for use within a parish, school, or diocesan office. You are allowed to make unlimited copies for use within your own community. You may also email these to members of your team or participants in your program. If you serve more than one parish or school, each should purchase its own license. You may not post our eResources to any web site without explicit permission to do so. Please contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for cooperating with our honor system regarding our product licenses.

Format: eResource
Product code: PC190
Dimensions: 8½" x 11"
Length: 30 pages
Publisher:
The Pastoral Center
Written by Ann Naffziger and Paul Canavese

Author

Ann Naffziger has her MDiv from the Jesuit School of Theology and MA in Biblical Languages from the Graduate Theological Union, both in Berkeley.  Ann has worked in a variety of parish roles, as well as serving as a hospital chaplain, spiritual director, scripture instructor, and adjunct faculty member at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. She has written articles in the field of spirituality and scripture for AmericaBustedHalo.comCommonwealThe National Catholic ReporterSpiritual Life: A Journal of Contemplative Spirituality, and other publications. Ann is the author of The Catholic Way, annual Advent & Lent bookets, and a variety of other pastoral resources published by The Pastoral Center, which she co-directs with her husband Paul Canavese. She is also a Master Gardener and girls' softball coach. She lives in Alameda, CA, with her husband and two daughters.

View all resources by Ann Naffziger

Paul Canavese serves as director of The Pastoral Center (PastoralCenter.com), author, frequent conference speaker, and pastoral consultant. He has his MTS from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley. He directs GrowingUpCatholic.com (focused on coaching parents) and GospelLiving.org ("intentional daily life Catholicism"). He has served in a wide range of parish ministries, most recently as a pastoral consultant at Corpus Christi Parish in Piedmont, CA. Paul also has 20 years of experience in software development and management with technology startups and social media. Along with his wife Ann, two daughters, and seven chickens, he lives in Alameda, CA, where they operate a mini-urban farm and looks for creative ways to build community in their neighborhood.

View all resources by Paul Canavese