Social media is abound with messages to parents that their love and attention is all their kids need during this stressful time. These messages are no doubt intended to be empowering.

Watching a child learn to read can feel miraculous.

And for good reason: reading is an incredibly complex process that requires children to recognize shapes (letters), match these shapes with their corresponding sounds, combine these sounds into words, and then mentally pair these word with their definitions. Emerging readers must also begin to understand and apply decoding rules, pause at punctuation, and infer word meanings based on context clues.

If I’m being honest, technology has been a saving grace for my family over the past year. Screens have given us opportunities for education, entertainment, and even respite as we’ve navigated life during a pandemic.