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Ellis Abel Learns.
Sleep and Screens icon — Ellis Abel Learns Book 4, discernment, for children ages 5-15

Ages 5-15 · Book 4, Discernment · 4,299 places

Sleep and Screens

The last input of the day gets a whole session, because it is the one that runs all night.

Built on Ellis Abel and the Two Wolves Within — “Choose what you feed within.” A character series, not a curriculum with a worldview attached.

The five sessions

  1. Session 1

    Pick the one moment in the day that goes wrong most often

  2. Session 2

    Read the story and name what is actually happening in it

  3. Session 3

    Write the routine down in three steps a child can say back

  4. Session 4

    Run it for a week without changing it, even on the bad days

  5. Session 5

    Come back to it and let the child say what got easier

Questions leaders ask

Is sleep and screens in your area a religious program?

No. Ellis Abel is a character series. Each volume carries one named core value — this one is discernment — and the story does the teaching. There is no doctrine in it, nothing to opt out of, and it is used in public schools, libraries and secular programs as readily as anywhere else.

What ages does this work for?

Ages 5-15. The story is read aloud, so a child who cannot read yet is fully in it, and the discussion prompts are written in two bands so one adult can hold a mixed-age room.

We have tried things like this in your area before and stopped. Why is this different?

Because it is ten minutes and it survives a missed night. There is no streak to break and nothing to catch up on — you pick up at the next chapter.

What if my child will not talk about it?

Then read it anyway and say nothing. Children answer days later, in the car, about something else entirely. The prompts are there when they are ready, not a toll you have to pay to finish the book.

The rules that make it work

This takes no side on any platform

No app is named as good or bad. That is what makes it usable in a public school, and it is also what makes it still true in three years.

Teach the question, not the rule

Rules expire when the technology changes. "Who made this and what do they want from me" works on something that has not been invented yet.

The child writes the rule

A limit imposed from above is complied with until it can be evaded. A limit a child helped write is one they can explain to a friend.

Adults do the inventory too

A grown-up listing their own real day, honestly, in front of the children, is the moment the session stops being a telling-off.

Self-talk is an input

The harshest voice most children hear is their own, and it is on the list with everything else because it works the same way.

Nobody is shamed for their list

The first honest inventory is always ugly. A room that reacts to that is a room that will only ever see edited lists afterwards.

Sleep and Screens by metro area

Northeast

Midwest

South

West

Cities and all 3,143 US counties are covered too — every place page is live. The campaign sitemap lists every one.

Related programs

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The rest of the series

Book 1AccountabilityBig feelings. Small choices. Real accountability.Book 2BelongingBeing brave means showing up anyway.Book 3ConfidenceTurn fear into confidence, one step at a time.Book 5EmpathyWhat matters more than earning a Gold Star?Book 6FaithDifference isn’t weakness. It’s a gift.