The 5 rules of a phone-free family Sunday (and why it falls apart without a film camera)
You've tried "phones in the basket". It lasted till pudding. Here's the version that thousands of UK families are now doing once a month, and the small object that makes it stick.
You put the roast down and nobody looked up.
You know the moment. You've cooked for two hours, you set the plate down, and the table is four faces lit blue. Not rude. Not even deliberate. Just the default now.
It's not a parenting failure, and it's not your kids. Apps are built by thousands of engineers whose job is to make sure a 14-year-old can't put the phone down. You were never going to out-nag that. So stop fighting on their ground and change the ground.
First Sunday of the month. Not "when we get round to it".
Families that say "we should do more phone-free time" never do. Families with a date in the calendar do. The first Sunday of every month is the Family CATCH Up. It's in the diary, it's non-negotiable, and after the second one nobody argues because they know it ends at bedtime.
Phones go in a drawer. All of them. Yours first.
Not face-down on the side. Not "just for emergencies". In a drawer, in the hall, from breakfast to bedtime. If you keep yours out "for photos", the whole thing is over by eleven, because now there's a phone on the table and it's yours.
Take the phone away and give them something better to hold.
This is the rule everyone misses and the reason most phone-free days collapse. You can't take something out of a child's hand and leave it empty. The phone's one legitimate job on a family day is photos, so you need something that does that job and is more fun than a phone.
A real film camera is that thing. 24 shots on a roll means every frame matters. No screen to check, no retakes, a proper click and a wind-on. The ten-year-old fights the fifteen-year-old for it. Dad wants a go. Nobody is bored.
Do boring things. Properly.
Don't plan a big day out. The point isn't the activity. Cook the roast together. Walk to the park. Play the board game with the missing piece. Let the teenager sulk for twenty minutes and then watch them get into it, because there's nothing else to do.
The photos you'll want in ten years are the boring ones. Grandad asleep in the chair. The dog on the table. Someone's hand in the roast potatoes.
Finish the roll. Post it. Argue over the scans when they come back.
Shoot all 24 by bedtime. Monday morning, drop the roll in the prepaid mailer on the school run. About a week later the scans land in your inbox, developed by hand in a studio in Shoreditch, and you get a second family moment: everyone round one laptop, finding out who took the blurry one.
Twelve Sundays a year. Twelve rolls. A family album that nobody had to be nagged into, and that no one else's family has.
One Sunday, start to finish
-
9:00Phones in the drawerAll of them. Camera comes out. First roll goes in (twenty seconds, there's a card in the box).
-
10:30Walk, park, bakeryKids take the camera. 8 shots gone before you've bought the bread.
-
13:00Cook togetherThe flash photos in the kitchen are the ones that look like your own childhood.
-
15:00The lullBoard game. Garden. Nap. This is the hour that feels weird the first time and brilliant the third.
-
18:30Dinner, all eyes upLast few frames at the table. Roll's done.
-
MonPost the rollPrepaid mailer, any postbox. Scans by email in about a week.
Why not a cheap digital "film" camera from the internet?
Because it's a screen. The whole day depends on there not being one.
| CATCH | "Digital film" camera | Phone in the basket | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real 35mm film | Yes | No, a filter | No |
| Screen on the back | None | Yes | Obviously |
| Shots per day | 24, every one counts | Hundreds, none count | Hundreds |
| Kids want to hold it | Fight over it | Briefly | Permanently |
| Developed by hand | Shoreditch studio, included | Nothing to develop | — |
| Reusable | For years | Yes | Yes |
One box. One roll a month. Scans by email.
"Even my teenage son"
"First Sunday was a nightmare, I won't lie. Second one my 15-year-old asked if he could do the photos. Third one he set the date. I don't know what happened but I'm not asking questions."
"We'd tried the phone basket thing about four times. It never lasted. The difference is the camera gives the kids something to do instead of just taking something away. That's the whole trick."
"My husband was the worst for scrolling at the table. He's now the one who loads the film. The scans coming back a week later is honestly the best bit, we all crowd round the laptop."
"I wanted to be the one who started a family tradition. Twelve rolls in and it is one. My daughter calls it CATCH Sunday. The photos look like my own childhood, flash in the kitchen and all."
4.9 / 5 across 1,333 reviews of the CATCH starter kit.
Start your first Family CATCH Up this Sunday
-
Reusable CATCH film camera, focus-free, built-in flash
£60Free -
3 × roda 35mm films, 24 shots each, new films every 90 days
£42 -
3 × development credits, hand developed, high-res scans included
£40 - Prepaid mailer + corduroy travel bagIncluded
-
Everything in your first box, bought separately
£142£30
Small UK team, cameras are made in runs and the free camera offer comes and goes. Cancel anytime, keep the camera.
Questions parents ask us
Is one camera enough for a family of four?
Yes. The point is to share it. One roll, 24 shots, everyone gets a go and it becomes a thing. If you want one each for a big day out, extra cameras are £60 or you can look at our event kits.
My kids are teenagers. Will they actually do this?
The first Sunday will be hard and the second will be easier. The camera helps because it's a novelty and there's no screen to judge the photo on. Most parents tell us the teenager is the one who ends up owning the camera.
We'll never get through 24 shots in a day.
You'll get through them before lunch. If you don't, just carry on next weekend, the roll doesn't mind. Three rolls every 90 days is one a month.
Do we get prints?
You get high-res scans by email, usually within 7 days of us receiving the roll. Lots of families print their favourites for the fridge or a yearly album. We don't post physical prints.
Can I cancel?
Any time, from your account, and the camera is yours to keep whatever you decide.
Is it hard to use?
Point, press, wind on. Focus-free lens, built-in flash for indoors. If an eight-year-old can use it, and they can, so can everyone.