More likely than not, Rachel Accurso—better known as Ms. Rachel—is the first person young children see when their parents turn on the TV or—gasp—hands them an iPad.
But Ms. Rachel is not just the modern-day Mister Rogers; she’s the face of a global media empire, a mother of two, and the holder of two master’s degrees—in early childhood education and music education. So when the 2025 Glamour Woman of the Year says parents “don’t need to feel as guilty as we do” about screen time, the moms and dads reading this will probably breathe a sigh of relief.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting children aged between 18 and 24 months to educational programming viewed with a caregiver, while children between two and five years old should only view “noneducational” programming for about one to three hours a day. The AAP also recommends parents “turn off all screens during family meals and outings” and “avoid using screens as pacifiers, babysitters, or to stop tantrums.”
A bunch of childless young people on TikTok are going viral for talking about how bad millennials are at parenting, and let me be the first to say: Until you have kids, you have no idea.
Many parents know all this. The problem is that these guidelines are not always possible to abide by, which can lead to feelings of guilt and shame. In her Glamour Woman of the Year profile, Ms. Rachel says it’s all about finding balance.
“I think what’s really important in life—and for kids—is balance. You’re doing dishes, you’re doing laundry, maybe you’re exhausted. Or maybe they’re really cranky and it helps to put something on sometimes,” she says. “During sick days, technology is fine; just lay around and watch shows. And on planes. But I think it is important to have balance.”
Of course, Ms. Rachel acknowledges there are vital aspects of early childhood development that can’t be delegated to virtual companions. “For the really little ones, zero to three, that I have an expertise in, it’s really important that they have what Harvard calls serve-and-return interactions,” she says. “So say they’re at the grocery store with you and they point, and you’re like, ‘Oh, you see the apples?’ And then they’re like, ‘Yeah.’ And you’re like, ‘Wow, should we get an apple? I’m going to pick out an apple.’ So you’re narrating your day, having those back-and-forth interactions. You can’t replace those with a screen.”
She continues, “But I think expecting parents to never use screens—how is that possible? I think guilt can be a very heavy thing to carry as a parent. I think we don’t need to feel as guilty as we do.”
You can read Ms. Rachel’s full interview here, or check out the complete group of 2025 Glamour Women of the Year here.