Screen time management is one of the most challenging aspects of modern parenting. As Camille Walker explains in her recent podcast episode, it’s not about demonizing screens but finding a healthy balance that works for your family. When children have unlimited access to screens, parents often notice increased irritability, argumentativeness, and resistance to following directions. This isn’t because the children are being deliberately difficult—studies have shown that increased screen time can exacerbate symptoms of anxiety, depression, and aggression in those who already have a propensity toward these conditions.
Seven years ago, Camille created the Screen Freeze Handbook during a time when her family needed to reset their relationship with technology. They took a 30-day fast from screens, which might seem extreme, but it helped them develop what Camille calls the “five pillars of health”: examining what they’re eating, how much sleep they’re getting, screen time usage, outdoor activity, and emotional expression. When children (or adults!) are struggling, working through these five pillars often reveals the root cause of the issue. Rather than viewing screens as the enemy, Camille encourages parents to see screen time as a tool in their parenting toolbox—one that can be used intentionally to create meaningful moments and connection.
One of Camille’s approaches involves utilizing educational apps that make screen time valuable. She recommends Simply Piano (and the entire Simply Series), which gamifies learning piano through an app that recognizes whether notes are played correctly. The app adapts to different age groups and musical preferences, making it engaging for both children and adults. Duolingo is another favorite, allowing family members to link accounts and maintain learning streaks together as they explore new languages. For younger children, Khan Academy and PBS Kids offer safe, engaging content centered around fundamental educational concepts.
Beyond screens, Camille emphasizes the importance of connection tools. Her podcast, “Five Minute Meditations for Kids,” provides screen-free ways to reset, relax, and regulate emotions—something she wishes she had started earlier with her own children. These short meditations address specific challenges like anxiety, making friends, and bedtime struggles. Camille also created a journal called “Time for Us,” featuring playful questions and simple prompts that parents and children can explore together. This side-by-side activity can become part of a daily rhythm, building trust and creating lasting memories that extend beyond the digital world.
In the Walker household, the “CEO approach” to screens involves linking screen privileges to completing other important activities. Rather than offering vague time limits, screens become a reward for addressing the five pillars: proper nutrition, adequate sleep, reading time, outdoor play, and using their brains in non-digital ways. Screen time opens up at 1 PM during summer days, after these priorities have been addressed. Camille monitors usage through apps like Family Safety and Bark, which allow for differentiated limits on various platforms. She also creates a “screen menu” of approved shows and apps, with fewer restrictions on educational content like Duolingo compared to social media platforms like Instagram.
Creating connections between screen activities and real-life experiences adds another dimension to healthy technology use. After a Spanish lesson on Duolingo, families might make tacos together, or after practicing piano through Simply Piano, children might host a mini recital for family and friends. These activities anchor digital learning to tangible, real-world experiences. Regular “walk and talk” sessions, where children take turns having one-on-one conversations with a parent, provide dedicated attention that helps balance screen time with meaningful human connection. The key is not elimination but intentionality—having a plan and being aligned with your parenting partner about how screens fit into family life.
Resources:
- 5-Minute Meditations for Kids Podcast
→ Listen on Spotify - Simply Piano & Simply Series
→ Available in the App Store & Google Play - Duolingo Language App
→ duolingo.com - Time for Us Parent-Child Journal
→ Available on Amazon – Volume 2 Link - Volume 1: Time For Us
- Screen Freeze Program
→ Get the Reset – Link
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Connect with Camille Walker:
Follow Camille on Instagram: www.instagram.com/CamilleWalker.co
Follow Call Me CEO on Instagram: www.instagram.com/callmeceopodcast
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Camille: 0:00
Before you cringe and spiral out into mom guilt, know that you are not alone and you're not doing anything wrong. Sometimes it just takes knowing how to tweak the system in your own family so that it works for you. So you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know this is Call Me CEO. Hey, everyone, it's Camille Walker here, and and it is summertime and I'm doing a special series where the episodes are around 10 minutes. I'm going to stick to that quick juicy in and out, and we are doing this because summer is already in full swing. I can't believe it's already almost the end of June. By the time you hear this, it's probably going to be the first of July. So this is the sanity saving summer series. That's what I'm calling it, and today's episode is one that I feel very passionately about. I was recently asked to be on Fox 13, which was really fun and exciting, about how to handle screen time in your home. This is a huge topic. It's not going anywhere. This is something that we are all dealing with as busy parents. Screens are a part of our lives and it's something we don't want to demonize, but we also want to come up with tools and tactics to help use it in a positive way reinforcement as fun, but not have it take over our kids' lives. I don't know about you, but I feel like when my kids have unlimited access or too much access to screens, they can get grumpy or they argue more or they're a little less likely to listen. You know and it's not that they're bad for doing this it's simply the fact that studies have shown that if you have a propensity towards anxiety, depression, aggression, any of these things that increase screen time will increase those symptoms. So let's do a little forward action with this and create tactics and tools for creating positivity around the use of screens in your life. So before you cringe and spiral out into mom guilt, know that you are not alone and you're not doing anything wrong. Sometimes it just takes knowing how to tweak the system in your own family so that it works for you. So seven years ago I can't believe it's been that long I wrote this program. I'm holding it up for those of you watching the video. It's called the Screen Freeze Handbook.
Camille: 2:45
I wrote this because I was in a time of desperation, of needing to get a handle on the screen time usage in our home. This is a time where my family and I took a 30 day fast from screens and it felt very necessary. I felt called to do it. It was an extreme approach to emotions that were running high in the family. Let's just say that, and what's really cool about the process of creating this Green Freeze Handbook is that it became a meeting of what are the things that we're feeding our bodies and our minds with to help us to be the most healthy.
Camille: 3:20
Screens aren't bad, but what could we do to create an atmosphere that's better? So I talk about the five pillars of health that I created with my kids, and the five are what are you eating? These are questions we'll go through if they're having a hard time. What are you eating? How much sleep are you getting? How much screen time are you having? Did you go outside and have you talked about your feelings? So it goes down to the basics Are you exercising? Are you eating well? Are you sleeping? What is your screen times and can we talk about it? And typically, if we go through those five, we'll always get to the root of what we're missing.
Camille: 4:01
So this handbook used to be available for sale on my site. Right now it is not. I think I should remedy that, because I have maybe like 20 to 30 of these printed and available and if you are interested, please DM me. I will sell them for $14. Let's say that If you leave a review on the podcast, I'll even give you a discount. All right, so let's, let's dive into this. So this handbook is meant to create meaningful moments. What do you do in the meantime? It's about coming up with a contract, meaning a meeting of the minds of what does it mean and how are we going to use screen time in our home so that it is something that we enjoy together. But we also know that there's a limit, and we'll come back to that in a minute. But I want you to think about screen time as being a tool in your parenting toolbox and it's not the enemy, and then to also consider about resetting habits, to reconnect and create purposeful time together. So this is the part that I'm excited to share with you, because I actually am kind of nerding out on this myself Educational apps that I love that do involve screens are so fun.
Camille: 5:16
So one of them that is my favorite is Simply Piano and the Simply Series. I have done Simply Piano in the past and taken a break from it. If you buy the family package, you can have up to five accounts and you can also have access to Simply Piano, simply Singing, simply Guitar, simply Drawing and what's the fifth one? Oh, I can't remember. And what's the fifth one? Oh, I can't remember Guitar singing, drawing. There's one other one, I swear.
Camille: 5:54
Anyway, what's really cool about this is if you set your phone up on the piano and it takes you through almost like a gamified way of learning how to learn the notes, read the staff and learn to play the piano, the phone will actually recognize whether or not you're playing the right notes and if you don't, it will start you to the beginning of that set so you can get it right in practice. And then, as you go along, it gives you a notification that you have passed that part and you can go on to the next. So it's very gamified. It is super fun. All of the songs that it leads you into learning can be identified as genres of music that you're into, and it also sets it up by age. So for younger kids my son Jensen, who just turned nine he was learning today and it was teaching him how to play baby shark and he thought that was a little too young for him where I was learning how to play baby shark and he thought that was a little too young for him where I was learning how to play Imagine Dragons. So if you wanted to, you could set the age higher to be like more music you'd hear on the radio, or if you wanted it to be more kid geared, you can do that as well. But I love this app. It is very easy to use and understand and it's also something that you can buy for a month, like for me. I think I'll do it a month at a time, get us through the summer and then we'll evaluate in the fall to see if we have time or the interest is there.
Camille: 7:14
One of my favorites Number two is Duolingo. This is probably an app that you're familiar with, but it gamifies learning how to learn a language, and what I really like about it is that you can link up with other accounts to have learning streaks together, meaning you are both using the app and learning from it. So this is something my older kids are using, because my younger kids don't have phones, but I'm connected to my husband, my daughter and my son that are all teenagers and that's something that I'll give them unlimited time on, because they're learning and it's fun and they're learning different languages. We have in the family people learning Japanese English. She really is working on English, spanish and French, so that's been really fun. Another one I really like is the Khan Academy or the PBS Kids. This is one that I used for years when my kids were a little younger. It's very safe, engaging, age-appropriate content, and it's all centered around learning basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, that sort of thing, but really fun in a really fun way.
Camille: 8:26
Hey, my friends, just popping in here really quick to say if you are drowning in a to-do list but never actually getting anything done, I hear you. This is the time to take back control of your day, and I've created a product for you, for free, that will help you to do this. It's called the ultimate time audit and productivity system. It is a free resource to help you pinpoint exactly where your time is going and what you should be delegating. My coaching involves a lot of time spent with business owners who are losing time valuable time on menial tasks that they could either delegate or create a system around, but first needing to understand how their time is being used. So imagine having more time for your family, your business and yourself, without the constant overwhelm. You can grab your free copy in the link below or at camillewalkerco and start working smarter, not harder. Camillewalkerco is the website, but go ahead and grab that link below and I would love to help you take back your time right now.
Camille: 9:27
Another resource, number four, that I want to make sure that you pay attention to and are aware of is five minute meditations for kids, because that is my other podcast. I've been doing that podcast with my friend Jesse and we're almost up to a year of doing this podcast, and it is such a cool way to be screen-free, to reset, relax and regulate emotions. Honestly, if I could go back and teach myself as a younger mom, I would have said to start meditation sooner, even if it's just five minutes a day. That's why I had the idea to create five minute meditations, because there are specific episodes around affirmations, overcoming anxiety, storytelling for bedtime. We have episodes that are specific, that can be used in classrooms or even on a drive to and from school, or focused around night terrors or making friends, or I mean gosh. There are so many, so many episodes that are awesome, even just episodes on learning to breathe. So it's a perfect for quiet time, transitions or bedtime. Pop it in and let it sink in, and we have nighttime routines that help with that. All right.
Camille: 10:38
So the next tool I want to talk about is connection tools, and I wrote a journal called Time for Us. That came after I wrote the Screen Freeze program, and what it is is. It's open conversation through playful questions and using simple prompts that you can do with your child sitting side by side. It can be used after screen time or as a daily rhythm that you do together, whether it's morning or at night, but even five minutes a day builds trust and lasting memories. I really feel like the relationship and openness that I have with my teenagers now, who are 17, 14, 11, almost 12, he's preteen for sure was time that I invested with them as little people.
Camille: 11:26
This is available on Amazon. There is a volume one and a volume two written by me, and my heart and soul went into it and I think you would love it. So check that out because it's a really cool way to give your kid attention that feels really purposeful out because it's a really cool way to give your kid attention. That feels really purposeful and it's a really cool memento to keep with you. There are pages in there that have things called like a kid quiz, where they guess things about you, or drawing activities, where they do creative things in there as well.
Camille: 11:53
All right, so let's talk about the CEO approach to screens. This is kind of your overview of how I run things in the house, and this has changed over time depending on the ages of my kids. But instead of a vague, you get so many hours a day. I very much have it linked to it being a reward for getting things done around the home that need to be done. We talk about the five pillars eating, sleeping, eating, getting outside and having their brains used elsewhere. So that's typically where we'll say reading time in, outside time in. We're looking at what we can fit in first, and then we open up green lights when it's a yes to have you done these other things in your day and our screen time opens up at one o'clock on summer days. I will be honest in confessing that by that time I like to arrange for play dates for my kids. So, yeah, some days they're home and they get some screen time and we monitor that through an app called Family Safety, which can be connected to our computer, our Xbox, as well as what's? The other app we love, the Bark app, which monitors more of like texting, internet searching, youtube subscriptions, that sort of thing. But it's a really cool way to set that intention of we do this first and then we do that, and they get a reward of screen time. That's what they want. Like my kids are gamers, so that's worked really well for us.
Camille: 13:25
Another idea is to create a screen menu of shows and apps that you approve of, or maybe things that you don't have as much of a limit on. So take, for example, my 17 year old. He I'm going to sound really strict, but it's kind of. I mean, I've been in the social media world forever and I am I am stricter with social media, I think, than a lot of people might be. But he my daughter doesn't have access to Instagram. My 17 year old does. He gets, I think, five minutes a day and then if he wants more time, he has to request it and I'm okay with that. I just don't think he needs to be on there a lot. But then there's apps like Duolingo or learning apps that I'm fine with him having lots of time on because he's learning and spending that time wisely. So going through and talking about what is something that we want to be spending a lot of time on, what is something we do not. That does not mean that they're not playing Fortnite, where I think one of my son's latest favorites is Bellatro, my 17 year old, and that's like a more mature game. But talk about it, have open conversations and why do you want to play it and why how would you be spending the time?
Camille: 14:43
Number three is to anchor screens to real life. So this is actually an idea that I'm going to try. That's new, but after doing, say, a Spanish lesson and do a lingo, then making tacos together, or having a night where you correlate the language that they're working on with something that you're eating for dinner that night, that's really fun. Or if you're learning piano, to host a little mini rehearsal or recital and invite family and friends to come, which I think is really cute, really fun. Another idea is to go for walks, to go to do journaling or to have meditation time together. I'm a big fan of walk and talk. I do that with my kids very regularly, where they take turns having one-on-one time with me, where we talk, they talk and I walk and I listen, and it gives them time to just have that one-on-one attention with me, which has really been wonderful for us. So, to wrap up, we talked about Simply Piano, duolingo, five Minute Meditations for Kids, time for Us, journals, the Screen Freeze program and this is all about. You do not need to eliminate screens, but it is good to have a plan and to be on the same page as your partner.
Camille: 15:59
For more tips like this, I want you to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can find that at camillewalkerco and there are freebies that are available there. You can get access at camillewalkerco and there are freebies that are available there. You can get access to them there. I'll actually put it in the show notes as well below and you'll get printables, parenting tools, recipes that I share every week, episodes from this podcast, as well as episodes from five minute meditations for kids. And for those of you who are running a business, keep in mind that I am opening up CEO Mindset program. That is opening up this fall and you will get early access and early pricing if you are a member and subscribed to my newsletter. So make sure to check that out because that is coming.
Camille: 16:40
Thank you so much for listening and this is all to help you to be the CEO of your life, of your business, and if you found this helpful, please share with a friend, like, subscribe, leave a review. Any of that just means the world to me. Please reach out to me. It's so good to have one-on-one conversations. I am a human. I am a mother, flawed, trying to figure it out in this crazy world, just like you, and I hope that these short episodes help you. Have a wonderful day and I hope you're having a fantastic summer. Bye, hey, ceos. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment and a five-star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram at call me CEO podcast and remember you are the boss.
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