When we were growing up, if we didn’t know something, we had to ask an adult or head to the library.
These days, our kids can find out about anything, thanks to the internet. And that sounds pretty good, until you realize your kids can find out about anything.
Our kids are way more tech savvy than we ever were. Our parents had to worry about us watching too much TV, or maybe spending too much time playing video games.
We worry about who our kids are meeting online, what they’re viewing or just whether all their time in a digital domain has left them disconnected from the physical world.
Fortunately, there are ways we can still raise wholesome kids in this digital age. Parenting expert Denise Lisi DeRosa of Cyber Sensible offers a few ways to manage your children’s tech use at home.
Give your kids some rules before they get access any new device or gaming system, or start using a social media platform. Let them know that rules they follow offline still apply online, whether they’re engaged in digital play or friending people on Facebook. Acknowledge the benefits of digital technology while expressing your concerns about the people they might meet, the content they might see and the potential for an unhealthy dependence on the internet.
“You cannot outsource parenting,” writes DeRosa in the Huffington Post. “There is no app that replaces your role as a guiding force in your child’s life.”
Teach your kids to do right rather than trying to catch them doing wrong, but recognize that they’re kids and they won’t always make good decisions and still need protection. You can use any number of monitoring apps and services – DeRosa mentions PocketGuardian, MamaBear and Verizon FamilyBase – to keep track of what your kids are doing.
But be sure to tell your kids you’ll be doing this in advance. Spying on them will only create distrust and make them reluctant to bring real problems to you.
Kids can spend several hours a day engaged with media and technology, but as DeRosa writes, “the total screen amount is not the full story…because not all screen time is equal.”
It’s important to determine how your kids are using that time. Are they escaping, or are they learning or engaging? Are they consuming media, or making things of their own?
“There’s a lot of junk online,” DeRosa says, “but there are also great opportunities for learning, exploring, connecting and creative expression.”
We began this by talking about how kids today are so much more tech savvy than we are, but let’s face it: most of us aren’t exactly Luddites. After all, it’s not like you’re reading this on parchment. So ask yourself how much technology you use. Do your devices distract you from real life? Do you behave yourself when engaging with others? If so, it’s easier to teach your kids to be good digital citizens.
Part of setting rules for your kids’ online activity is making sure they have ways to engage in creative play when they’re offline.
If you’re looking for ways to tear your kids away from their devices, download Swingset & Toy Warehouse’s Busy Parents Guide to Outdoor Games and Play.
And visit us online or at one of our four stores to shop for swing sets, trampolines, basketball hoops and other things that can help you raise a more wholesome kid in a digital age.