You guys, this is what I came home to tonight. Those of you who are parenting teens may not be surprised.

My kids have lost all their electronic devices. I’m not sure when they’ll get them back or if soon you’ll be able to buy them on eBay.

And there’s my husband who was yelling…”Is this what you want? A burnt pizza life?!?”

You see, they had one job, take the pizza out of the oven while Todd took Sam to yoga.

But Fortnight and Fuller House and a bunch of other weird apps beckoned and this is what Todd came home to.

Devices are a whole thing my friends.

We monitor and regulate and have good discussions and still…charred pizza for dinner.

Todd is threatening to shellac this thing and nail it to the wall Everybody Loves Raymond style. So we remember what happens when we don’t pay attention.

Burnt pizza is really the least of it…burnt relationships are the worst.

All I know is that parenting in the age of devices is a WHOLE THING. We are constantly learning and regrouping and trying to keep them from needing years of chiropractic care because they are always looking down.

Tonight they burned a pizza. It’s a little thing.

But it’s also so much more. It’s a chance to talk and teach and remind them to pay attention to the world beyond that device in their hand.

This is the reality of parenting that we live in and we have to be on guard.

On guard for these darn devices taking too much of their time and on guard that they don’t take too much of ours.

So I’m writing to you from my phone to remind you to put down yours.

And be sure there’s a time when all your people put down theirs.

We need time to look in each other’s eyes and teach them the lessons and make sure our people see the difference between the world in the shiny little box and the world in real life.

Especially if they’re in charge of dinner.