Ellie Kemper: I'm giving my kids a less scheduled summer. It's made me a better parent.
Actress Ellie Kemper discusses her approach to parenting during the summer, emphasizing the importance of unstructured play and limiting screen time for her children. She shares how these practices help her connect with her kids while balancing her professional life.
Why it matters
It highlights the growing cultural conversation around digital detoxing and the benefits of unstructured play for child development in a screen-heavy era.
Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images Ellie Kemper is mom to two kids, ages 6 and 9. She's prioritizing unstructured time and imaginative play this summer, she says. Being an actress helps her connect with her kids. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ellie Kemper, who is in partnership with Pirate's Booty . It has been edited for length and clarity . It's July, but I'm realizing there's still a lot of summer left. Sometimes I'm like, "How many months until school starts ?" There are still a lot of days to fill with my kids, who are 6 and 9. I'm trying very hard to keep them off screens as much as possible this summer, because it's very easy to slip into that. Recently, we visited family in St. Louis , where I'm from.
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