Teaching Impulse Control With Screens, Teens, Toddlers & Teachers II #575

·24 min·1 clip

Being on screens is not in the Bill of Rights; it's a privilege.

1. Calm Parenting Podcast #575 is about teaching impulse control with screens, teens, toddlers, and classroom blurting. 2. Kirk Martin hosts and keeps returning to Casey, his son, Lindsay the 10-year-old listener, and the parents using his downloadable programs. 3. The episode exists to give parents 10 concrete ways to teach delayed gratification, self-control, and responsibility. 4. Martin's first new tool is the choice ball, a soft squishy ball a younger child can toss while deciding what to do. 5. He suggests parents model the idea by tossing the ball themselves and saying, "The decision is yours." 6. For tweens and teens, he recommends a 24-hour cart roll so non-essential purchases sit before anyone taps buy. 7. He adds a small reward, like covering 10% or 20% of the price, if a child waits 12 or 24 hours. 8. He tells older kids to "write it, don't send it" by drafting angry texts or emails in notes first and waiting an hour or overnight. 9. When teens want to go to a party or stay out late, he uses collaborative risk assessment and asks for an exit plan. 10. He says Casey learned to text from a bathroom and then let Martin call with a cover story if a situation felt off. 11. Physical exercise is presented as a self-control tool because climbing, hiking, and lifting weights burn off impulsive energy. 12. Martin extends that to PDA and ADHD kids, recommending trampolines, obstacle courses, chopping wood, digging holes, and carrying mulch. 13. He argues that outdoor activity matters because screens indoors do not create the pride, satisfaction, or achievement that hard movement does. 14. He also says parents have to lead through the initial resistance, because many children complain before they settle into the activity. 15. On screens, he uses a 45-minute limit, a three-minute-early cutoff for 10 extra minutes tomorrow, and a three-day loss if kids argue. 16. He also teaches that a first phone does not create an obligation to answer instant messages right away, so Casey learned to wait an hour or overnight. 17. The episode sounds like direct coaching rather than theory, with Martin speaking in plain commands, parent stories, and repeated examples. 18. It stays practical and repetitive on purpose, because he keeps turning each idea into a rule, a phrase, praise for progress, or a family routine. 19. Parents of teens, tweens, and younger kids who want concrete self-control scripts will get the most out of it. 20. Listeners wanting a long academic treatment or a story-driven narrative probably will not.

As heard by us

A practical case for teaching self-control through movement, routines, and a parent's steady follow-through.

Impulse control is framed as a family skill practiced in ordinary pressure points: video games, screens, classroom blurting, and the familiar question of whether toddlers or teens are easier to guide. Kirk Martin keeps the advice grounded by moving it into the body.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

When screens, blurting, or big frustration hijack the day, you get creative ways to help kids practice self-control.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Calm Parenting Podcast