How This TODAY Host Keeps Her Son Offline: ‘It’s in Our Control’

Published: July 10, 2026

By India McCarty

TODAY host Dylan Dreyer revealed her hack to keep her children offline — home phones.

“I don’t let my kids go on the phone or the iPad,” she said on an episode of “The Parent Chat,” her hit parenting podcast. “And there was a friend of my son’s who’s like, ‘Are you on Roblox?’ And I was like, ‘No.’ And he’s like, ‘Can I get Roblox?’ And I was like, ‘No.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, he wants to talk to me on Roblox.’ And I’m like, ‘Calvin, we have a house phone. Here’s the phone number. And if this kid wants to call you, he can call you on the house phone and you guys can set up a playdate.’”

Dreyer shared that “it’s really cute” to see her son’s friendship with this boy grow, as he also “happens to have a house phone.”

“There’s one number written by our phone, and it’s his friend’s phone number,” she said. “Every day after school, they just saw each other at school, but they call each other. They ask for playdates. They come over, and it’s like, if you don’t give it to them, they don’t have it, right? It’s in our control to not give it to them.”

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Dreyer shares three sons — Cal, 9, Ollie, 6, and Rusty, 4 — with husband Brian Fichera, who she recently filed for divorce from.

Speaking to Parents about “The Parent Chat,” the TODAY host said, “I’m a busy working mom. I hit my breaking points sometimes at the end of the day, and I’m just trying to make the best life for the kids. To think people can relate to what I’m going through and find me inspirational is really wild.”

“As parents, we all feel those struggles but also feel the joys,” she continued. “I don’t know if I’m doing anything right as a parent, but I like to think I am. My kids are super happy, they seem grounded, and our house is full of so much love. So I’m honored that anyone thinks, ‘Well, the way she does things is inspirational!’”

Dreyer has always made it a point to prioritize family time. In 2022, she announced that she would no longer be appearing on WEEKEND TODAY in order to spend more time with her sons.

“It’s all about family time,” she said at the time. “These boys are my whole life and Brian and I, we love being a team on weekends and spending as much time as we can with them and having as much fun as we can.”

Dreyer’s words of advice on how to keep her son off of smartphones and screens show how simple it can be to give your children a low-tech childhood.

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