About Wanda

Wanda Kanten Hartfield was raised in an incredibly happy home in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada. There, she, her two sisters and her mother spent long winter days creating their own entertainment.

Loving children, she became “Miss Wanda,” the host/teacher of Romper Room — a TV show that allowed millions of children to delight in being found in the “Magic Mirror.”

Becoming a mother of two sons, Wanda was able to test her projects and ideas in the real world of her children. She was firm in the belief that if you teach your child to self-entertain, dependence on all electronics is diminished.

Wanda writes for the parent standing in the kitchen at five o'clock, aware that the tablet has been on for a while, and out of ideas.

Her position is an unfashionably direct one. The argument over children's screen time tends to circle: the networks blame the parents, the parents blame the networks, and everyone agrees something ought to be done. She doesn't find that useful. Television and phones are businesses, and businesses are not going to raise anyone's children. The rules are the parent's to set — and rules are easier to keep when there is something waiting on the other side.

So UNPLUG! is not a book about screens at all. It is a book of things to do: one hundred and one of them, arranged so a tired adult can find one that fits the twenty minutes and the materials actually available. Nothing in it requires a trip to a shop, a cleared afternoon, or a child who is already enthusiastic.

The tone throughout is the one she'd use with a friend rather than an audience. No statistics about screen time. No suggestion you have already failed. Just the next thing to try, and what to do when it stops working.