It is no secret that screen time is an important part of modern life. For children, learning about screen time can be both educational and entertaining. At Just2 Tutoring, we believe it’s crucial to ensure that your child’s screen time is managed in a healthy way. What we recommend is creating a screen management contract with your child. While most parents believe it to be a good idea, most kids tend to disagree. At J2, we encourage approaching this topic with good intentions for your child, as well as let them be a part of the conversation and choices being made. 

Best Time and Place to Discuss Screen Time

Start the conversation about setting screen time limits early, and revisit it regularly as your child grows and their technology use evolves. Establishing healthy boundaries around screen time can be challenging but essential for young minds to develop the necessary skills.

To ensure a successful conversation with your kids about their digital habits, choose an appropriate moment when everyone is in a calm state of mind – such as during weekly family meetings or relaxing Sunday afternoons away from screens. The goal is to create an environment for discussion, not argument.

Key Questions for Discussing Screen Time

When discussing the topic, emphasize the benefits of using screens responsibly such as developing better self-control, learning healthy communication skills, and reducing stress levels – something our coaches do with our students regularly. It can also be helpful to discuss the potential harms associated with overusing screens such as missing out on physical activities, sleep disturbances, and spending less time with family and friends. The key here is to focus on the benefits of responsible use rather than just harping on the negatives or banning all screens outright. 

Here is a list of guided questions J2 uses to lead the family discussion:

• What are your favorite screen activities?
• What is your favorite activity that is outside of screens? Do we spend enough time doing that?
• What is annoying about how we (as a family) use screens throughout the day?
• Where do you think I use my screen too much?
• Maybe we all need some screen time rules. What do you think about that?
• How long do you think you should be allowed to use your screen everyday?
• Should an adult have different screen rules than you?
• How do we let friends and family know?

Benefits of Effective Screen Management

Always remember to highlight the benefits of screen time. With a sound screen management contract in place, kids gain valuable life skills such as self-discipline and responsibility – all while getting off the parental radar, earning privileges, gaining independence in managing their screens responsibly as well being free from persistent distractions. And when children reduce their own distractions through cutbacks to their digital use habits, not only does this signal responsibility over entertainment – but also more chances for quality family and personal time for everyone.

Why We Use Screen Management Tools at Just2

Creating a screen management contract with your child can help ensure they are using technology in a responsible way while still allowing them the freedom to explore educational opportunities online or stay connected with friends safely over social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok. 

At Just2 we want to help ease you and your young person into managing your screens now. By approaching this conversation openly and thoughtfully, you will be able to craft an agreement that works for everyone in your family and helps set digital boundaries for everyone involved!

At Just2 Tutoring, our mission is to empower students to excel by guiding them and their parents in developing key executive functioning skills. This includes creating structured settings, simplifying tasks into manageable steps, and offering practice opportunities. Reach out to us today to discover how we can equip your child with the essential tools they need for success Make sure to look out for the comprehensive list of our top screen management tools in our next post!

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When it comes to supporting reluctant students, can be a difficult task. It takes an understanding of the individual student’s needs and a supportive environment to truly help them succeed. However, with the right approach and guidance, even the most resistant student can benefit from an educational journey that is full of growth and discovery. 
 
At Just2 we use an approach known as Motivational Interviewing. Motivational Interviewing is used by professionals to support reluctant young people in connecting with their goals and begin to develop a plan for achieving them. It involves using open-ended questions, reflective listening, and affirming statements to engage the individual in a conversation that can help them find their motivation and create the confidence they need to take action. 

What Does This Approach Do?

Using this approach when coaching reluctant students gives them the space to express their feelings and ideas without judgment or interruption from the coach.  This helps create an atmosphere of trust and respect between coach and student which is essential for meaningful communication. The coach can then provide support, guidance, resources and strategies so that the student can make positive changes in their life. 

The Acronym OARS

The acronym OARS stands for Open-ended Questions, Affirmations, Reflective Listening, and Summarizing. 

Keep It Open

Open-ended questions are broad questions that encourage the reluctant student to elaborate on their thoughts and feelings. This type of questioning allows us as coaches to gain insight into what’s important to our students while also helping them clarify their thoughts about difficult topics or issues they may be dealing with. 
 
Example: Our lead expert, Jaz Mannion, suggests taking out the “can” for these open-ended questions to lead the discussion

Listen and Affirm

Affirmations help validate some of the emotions our students may be feeling – we must show empathy towards our students whether they’re feeling overwhelmed or excited about something. 
 
Reflective listening involves repeating back what we heard so that our student knows we understand them; this helps build trust between us while also providing time for our students to think things through more fully. 
Summarize
 
Finally summarizing involves taking all of the information we have been provided with during a session and connecting it in a way that makes sense for both us as coaches and our students alike. 

Conclusion

Motivational interviewing has proven to be an effective method when it comes to working with reluctant students who are struggling both personally or academically –  allowing youth space for discussion while also guiding them as needed can help them uncover their motivations leading to more successful outcomes overall. As parents and coaches, it’s up to us to remember how powerful OARS can be in helping foster meaningful conversations with those we work with so that together we can create lasting change not only within ourselves but within those around us as well.

Just2 Tutoring Donates Time to Local Students to help them Know What they Need to Do and Not Forget

Each week, for the past two years, I have been volunteering at our local high school. I help our kids Know What you Need to Do, When You Will Do It and Don’t Forget. My role is to support the administrative goal of raising overall school test scores. I provide individual students with the support they require to meet that goal.

In our rural mountain community, the enrollment is low, and FTE seems to not provide the support afforded to most district schools as well as most national rural schools.
Experience and research tell us that consistent and personalized check-ins provide the coaching, prompting, accountability, and follow-through required to meet course expectations. Many students are more capable than their GPA expression and in some cases extraordinarily talented, but they require individualized support. However, we see that our overstretched teaching staff is not always available to support. There is only one school counselor for both the middle and high school.

Simple Objectives

In light of all of this, I have developed a plan to achieve three simple objectives:

1. Know about course expectations (Know what you need to Do)


2.  Schedule time to meet the expectations (Know when to Do It)


3. Don’t forget about course and schedule commitments (Don’t Forget)

This may seem incredibly simple. I have found that, in the absence of an academic coach such as those at Just2, most students are not aware of their course expectations. Many students don’t even keep a planner. The excuse that runs rampant is; “It’s all in the portal”. However, many students don’t regularly access their student portal. In some cases, students may even have parents or guardians who have generously provided them with smartphones, but students usually find that the portal app takes up space that could be used for social media notifications.

I speak with students every day about something they hold near and dear: not having their parents take their phones. “The best way to achieve this”, I say, “is to show your parents that your phone functions as not just a form of entertainment, but also the most powerful organizational tool to date. A tool that is necessary to your executive function.” However, getting to a point of both viewing and utilizing a phone as a learning and organizing tool can be a tough road for all parties.

I am often accused of oversimplifying my articulation of student scenarios, but I believe this is often an effective approach to solving big problems. Student underachievement is a big problem, and part of this is feeling uneasy with their experience with learning. Kids need to feel confident in their abilities regardless of how far up the academic ladder they plan to climb.

Many of the kids whom I serve, whether in my volunteer work or my Just2 students, have supportive, engaged parents. They engage with their young people about their progress and offer support. The important difference between a parent and a mentor and a young person having both is the reason why I donate my time to support our local kids. I support them in completing assignments, communicating with teachers, getting their laptops repaired, accessing special education services, and remaining athletically eligible. This is important work and we are all doing it.

Solution Oriented: Know What you Need to Do, When You Will Do It, and Don’t Forget

At Just2 Tutoring, we are solution-oriented. We are minding our kids to:

1. Know about course expectations (Know what you need to Do)


2. Schedule time to meet the expectations (Know when to Do It)


3. Don’t forget about course and schedule commitments (Don’t Forget)

Tell us about how you help your young person stay on top of their course expectations and meet deadlines OR let’s get real about how difficult or even impossible it is to inspire self-initiation and engagement in strategies that result in meeting the above objectives.
 
Who is interested in participating in parent discussion on this topic?