Successful Parent

09/02/2026

Let me properly introduce myself. 🤍

First I want you to know that you’re a good parent. The fact that you’re here, looking for ways to reach your child, says so. And if screens have taken over more than you’d care to admit, that’s not your failure. It’s a deliberate, addictive design, built by billion-dollar companies to capture your child’s developing brain.

I’m Dr. Carrie, a clinical psychologist trained in interpersonal neurobiology and attachment, and a mom of two boys raising them in the same world you are. That training is what let me see the deeper story: screens aren’t only dysregulating our kids, they’re reshaping the brain architecture and coming between parent and child. More and more, kids and teens take their hurt to a screen instead of into your arms.

Almost no one is talking about that, and it holds its own solution. Your child is biologically wired to turn to you for comfort and connection. The devices have only borrowed that role, and you can take it back.
So this page was never just about screens. But they’re the lowest-hanging fruit on the modern day parenting tree. When you reduce or remove them and fill that space with your presence, the results are so sweet and nourishing.

📖 Digitally Dysregulated: How Screens Hijack Kids’ Brains and What Parents Can Do About It comes out this fall.

👉 DM me the word START for my free guide, The Tech Boundaries Your Kid Actually Needs, plus first access when the book arrives this fall.

08/29/2026

Thank you to News 3 Las Vegas for having me on to talk about this one.

A $17 billion settlement just confirmed what parents have known in their gut for years. Nevada was part of the lawsuit against Meta over social media’s addictive, harmful design, and the case just settled. Meta hasn’t admitted wrongdoing, but they’re paying $17 billion and making changes over the next 6-12 months.

Here’s what I want every parent to hear: this is real progress, but it is not full protection. The changes Meta makes will lessen the harm. They won’t remove it. These platforms still use persuasive design, built to hijack the same reward centers in your child’s brain that aren’t yet equipped with the impulse control to stop the scroll.
You dint have to wait for Meta to grow a conscience to protect your kids.

Make these 2 changes at home tonight:
1️⃣ No internet-connected tech behind closed doors.
2️⃣ No devices charging in your kid’s room overnight. All screens charge in the parent’s room or closet while the house sleeps.

You are not the bad guy for setting these limits. You now have the court of law behind you.
Talk to your kids tonight. Tell them why. And know you’re protecting more than their sleep. You’re protecting their developing brain during its most pivotal years.

Find full support at successfulparent.com and my upcoming book “Digitally Dysregulated.” 🤍

  

08/29/2026

Thank you to KSNV News 3, Las Vegas for having me on to discuss the Meta Settlement.

Nevada is among the states that have reached a landmark settlement in a lawsuit against social media companies accused of being addictive and harmful to kids.Dr

08/27/2026

Here’s what’s actually in the Meta settlement, in case you want the details.

Meta agreed to pay up to $17 billion over ten years to settle claims brought by 51 attorneys general for knowingly harming minors. Meta did not admit to  wrongdoing...but nobody writes a check for billions of dollars when they know they’re innocent. They knew if the court went to trial they’d likely be on the hook for a lot more.

What they’re required to change for kids under 18:
→ A 2-hour daily cap across Instagram and Facebook
→ No access midnight to 6am
→ No notifications overnight or during the school day
→ No visible like counts
→ No cosmetic surgery filters
→ An option to turn off the algorithm
→ Real age verification, and under-13 accounts removed
Something else to keep in mind: this is the third ruling against Meta this year.

In March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube negligently designed their products, knew minors were at risk, and warned no one. In August, a New Mexico court ruled Meta’s platforms a public nuisance and ordered $942 million plus five years of court supervision.

One ruling is a headline. Three is a pattern. And proof.

If you were concerned about your kid’s social media use, your instincts were correct. These cases prove that. And it was never a fair fight, you and your kid have been up against a billion-dollar machine engineered to outmatch you. 

Full breakdown in this week’s newsletter ~ link in bio.

08/26/2026

25,000 of you have built a devoted, inspiring community of parents. Thank you.

For 25 years, loving parents came to me seeking help with their kids. Successful parents thriving in their careers, yet struggling at home with their kids. They were clearly capable. Yet the skills that worked in the boardroom weren’t transerfing to their home and family. Their kids were flailing or worse, failing. But with a few subtle tweaks: mindset-shift, an understanding of child-development, heart-centered direction, and clarity around boundaries...everything changed for the better.

That’s what this page is for. Heart-forward, science-backed guidance to raise healthy, emotionally-connected, grounded, resilient kids in a distracting, disruptive modern world.

More soon, including my book, Digitally Dysregulated, out this fall. Link in bio to be first to know.

Thank you for being here. 🤍

08/24/2026

Teachers are not imagining this.

Dr. Leonard Sax has visited more than 500 schools, and what he hears is consistent. The disrespectful kid used to be the exception a teacher could manage. Now it’s close to half the class.

In a 2024 survey of nearly 600 educators, 91 percent said social media has hurt how students treat people in real life.

Here’s what I want you to understand. This is not a character problem in our kids. Interactive screens overstimulate the emotional and reward centers of a developing brain, and this takes away from their ‘thinking brain’ or prefrontal cortex. This imbalance leads to a dysregulated child. And a dysregulated brain has a harder time with impulse control, with attention, and with empathy.

It is not your kid. It is your kid’s brain on screens.

08/22/2026

Back to school season means backpacks, supply lists, and a school issued device that nobody handed you a permission slip for.

To use the apps our kids are handed at school, children give up a lot of personal data. And that data doesn’t always stay in the classroom. It can be stored, shared, and in some cases sold to other companies, often without a parent ever knowing. EdTech is a billion-dollar industry, and our kids are the ones generating the data. These are minors.

In this clip, Nicki Petrossi shares what she found when she asked one school app for the data it had collected on her own children. What came back stunned her, and me too.

This isn’t meant to scare you, it’s meant to inform you. We deserve to know what’s being collected and where it goes, and you have every right to ask your child’s school one simple question: “What happens to my child’s data?”

You are your child’s first line of privacy protection.

More with Nicki Petrossi of Nicki Petrossi of the Scrolling 2 Death Podcast 💛

08/21/2026

For every hour your child spends on a school-issued device, as much as 38 minutes are spent off task. That leaves as little as 22 minutes of real learning. Nicki Petrossi of Nicki Petrossi of the Scrolling 2 Death Podcast shared that stat with me, drawn from Jared Cooney Horvath’s research in his book, The Digital Delusion.

Here’s why it matters at home too. Whether your child is in class or at the kitchen table doing homework, an open laptop, iPad, or phone keeps pulling their attention toward messages, other tabs, social media, and games. One of the biggest reasons homework drags on for hours often isn’t the amount of work. It’s the constant distraction.

And it adds up. The Brain Drain study at the University of Texas at Austin found that just having a device nearby drains a child’s mental capacity. Homework takes longer, kids feel more stressed, and that strain spills over into conflict at home.

We may not be able to remove the devices, but we can ease the strain. When your child needs a device for homework, keep it in a shared family space where you’re close by. Walk past now and then and check in. We parents are the guardrails.

And you do have a say in the technology your child is exposed to at school, whether or not you think you do. Your voice matters there.

Learn more from Nicki Petrossi of the Scrolling 2 Death Podcast and Jared Cooney Horvath, whose book The Digital Delusion is available on Amazon ... it’s a must read for every parent and educator.

08/19/2026

Comment RESET and I’ll send you the free Back-to-School Reset one-pager: the plan, the scripts, and a checklist for the fridge.

If school’s about to start (or just did this week), excitement and angst roll in. Your plate is already full, so I’m not here to add one more thing. Instead, let’s take something away for a few days before or around the first day to set your kiddo up for success.

Hear me out ~ screens aren’t all bad; our boys have had more than their share of movies this summer. But as school returns, your child’s brain needs to recalibrate to the slower, quieter pace of a classroom. Framed right, your child is likely to hop on board.

A reset lands easier when your attention and something good fill the space the screens left behind.
And if there’s protest? That’s the pull of the screen talking, not your child being difficult, and it’s far easier to move through now than when homework is due. A little boredom isn’t the enemy either; it’s their brain recalibrating.

Sometimes less really is more.

P.S. Already back in school? It’s not too late. Skip recreational screens on weekdays and save them for the weekend. Their focus will thank you.

08/18/2026