Introducing 'The Analog Family'

It's funny how things come full circle.

Déjà vu!

Twelve years ago, I sat at my computer with a crazy idea to start a blog. I called it “Feisty Red Hair” and wrote hundreds of impassioned posts about being a stay-at-home mother in a small Ontario town. That blog grew rapidly and ended up being one of the best things I’ve ever done. It led to a career in writing and news publishing that exceeded the wildest dreams of that slightly bored, recently graduated new mom.

And now, here I am again, reclaiming a corner of the Internet as my own platform. Part of my motivation is practical. I have a book coming out in July 2023 called “Childhood Unplugged: How to Get Your Kid Off Screens and Find Balance” (from New Society Publishers) that I'm eager to tell the world about, so this Substack will make that easier.

Plus, I've discovered that once you delve deep into a topic, as I have with kids and digital media, you keep finding additional tidbits of information that you want to write about long after the manuscript has been finalized. This space will allow me to keep the conversation going with curious readers.

I am also motivated by a desire for community. I miss the thoughtful discussions that blossomed on my blog, thanks to intelligent and interesting commenters. When readers tell me how specific posts helped them, inspired them, taught them something, or stayed with them for years, it makes the hard work of writing worthwhile.

Parenting provides the framework for my life and a filter through which I see the world. The Analog Family, however, will not be exclusively about raising kids. It will explore the many other things that I do and think about on a daily basis—hands-on, physical activities like cooking and traveling and spending time outdoors and reading books and mulling over the state of the world. (OK, there may be a disproportionate amount of food writing—don't say I didn't warn you.)

I'm calling it The Analog Family because we are a modern family that strives to have less screen time, more real time. I'm on a mission to reclaim childhood as the rich, formative chapter in life that it's meant to be. I believe this work to be tremendously important, as children need advocates to speak up, to defend what they do not know they're missing out on, to protect their imaginations and curiosity and free play time. It's such a short period of time, but it's disappearing far too quickly. I hope this space can be a place to inspire parents to step back and let their children grow, explore, and develop more boldly.

As I learned the first time round, personal blogs have a tendency to take on a personality of their own—they just need to get started—so we’ll see where this goes. But I have a feeling it will be great. Stay tuned!