4 Guideposts to Teaching Children Safe Internet Practices
This week we talked about financial scams and the warning signs of financial scams. Typically when people consider financial scams, they think about seniors, but the reality is we are all susceptible— especially when we put our guards down. This got me particularly thinking about how technology impacts our parenting. If you have young children, you have to consider how much information, if any, you are willing to share about your young children online. The reality is once you post or share, it’s out there— forever.
I remember when we had our first son, we had a conversation with our family about guidelines of what to share about our children online. Keep a look out, I will be sharing another blog about some of the things I would suggest covering during this conversation and how to set expectations. I am certainly not an authority on how to teach your kids how to interact with technology. I am just learning myself, my oldest is only 4 years old. However, I realize we need to start thinking about these things and talk about what we want to teach out children.
Here are some of the things I have learned as I have started to ask these questions:
It’s important to talk to your kids about technology and keep the lines of communication open. I really liked what Maker Mama had to share about her experience at Google’s Internet Safe Day. Check out her post here.
Your Children Will Likely Run into Social Media before you realize. Start thinking about how you will handle social media; What are your family rules? What are your family expectations? Jon Acuff has several great posts that I like. Here is one exactly on this point.
Introduce them to Social Media Gradually and Establish Guidelines for Them. One of the biggest things I have taken away from what I have read, is that how it’s a good idea to introduce them to social media before they leave your home (e.g. turn 18!). While that seems like a long time…it goes quickly. It’s important to teach them safe practices, be able to monitor their activity, etc. This is one of the running theme’s I have found in Jon Acuff’s thoughts and advice.
Practice Safe Internet/Technology Usage Yourself. Technology and the Internet is always changing. We have to keep on top of safe internet practices ourselves so we can teach our children and educate them in an age appropriate manner about the risks and dangers out there. Here is Norton’s Blog on Internet Safety 101.
As we learn together, what great resources do you have to share?