Power

Contrary to popular belief, power is not always about money. In this case, power is about potty breaks and peanut butter cookies. You get to decide when that writhing, dancing, squeezing three-year-old gets to go potty. You also determine when your room of fresh-faced little miscreants gets their afternoon snacks.

However, you also wield a different kind of power. You can allow the kids to plaster themselves in front of a video screen for several hours, watching their favorite purple dinosaur movie for the billionth time. However, here's another option: You can spend snippets of time teaching them about words, pictures, and numbers. You can talk about plants, animals, and the natural world around them. You can invent active games that help improve their hand-eye coordination.

Simply put, you can help them see there's a larger world beyond the video screen. The choice is yours.