Our kids will soon be off for their holiday break at school. This means 2 weeks of trying to entertain the kids while I try to carry on with housework and with real world work on the job. I hate to admit it, but I do let the Internet babysit at times. My kids play video games, and they watch movies and play around watching funny videos on YouTube. I am challenging them to read a little more this holiday break, and their school is also running a program that will allow to win prizes for reading over the holiday break.
Last April on my radio show I took some time out to do the show at my kids’ school. It was “Take Your Kids To Work Day” and I decided instead to take my work to the kids. We talk about some tips how to keep your kids safe online and I use some of those examples. Be sure to listen in and feel free to give your own tips. Some of the things we need to make sure to do as parents is to educate our kids to the dangers of being online. Some of the finer points I wanted to throw out there for discussion by Dads are the following:
- Remind Your Kids That Online Actions Can Reverberate – Once Posted It Can’t Be Taken Back
- Explain About Putting Stuff Online Only a Parent Would Approve
- Understand Privacy Settings
- Review Your Child’s “Friends”
- Avoid Sex Talk Online
- Always Pay Attention To What Your Kids Are Doing Online
- Talk About Privacy
I have a Tween now that has a mobile phone and we are learning as we go with her use of the phone and how she is being social using the phone. We are setting rules now that we hope will help her understand how a mobile phone can be used as a weapon of mass destruction and can be a huge responsibility. We have set out to help her understand ramifications of texting, photos and videos. I would love to know some of the tips you parents have for your kids. A couple of ours:
- No phone after 9 p.m. (nothing good happens after 9)
- No pictures of other kids are taken without their knowledge and never shared
- Dad will read all texts…(Minors have no rights!)
- Phone Charged At Night In Parents Room
This holiday vacation is going to be tougher as my kids get more gadgets as gifts and as gaming online becomes even more social. I can only hope common sense prevails. Now to start enforcing those common sense lessons.
Thanks..Your true… Keep online media for child. I am make pharent protection for this.
My children are 13, 10 and 6 (boy, boy, girl) and my oldest has a talk/text cell phone. While going over the rules with him, I explained that FWD’s get deleted and pictures get screened. If he gets one from somebody, I need to see it. If he wants to send one, he shows it to me first. There are enough parental controls nowadays that I can check when he sends or receive’s data such as a picture. Those are dangerous. One of his friends sent him a picture of her in her new bathing suit. I had him delete it immediately and I contacted her parents so they were aware of the activity.
The oldest also has been nagging for a Facebook account. That’s off limits still. I realize that Facebook says no one under 13, but I think that’s still too young. Who is he going to add? School friends? Me and his mother, Aunts and Uncles? I know that my close friends who the kids consider their ‘Uncles’ or ‘Aunts’ post some pretty obnoxious things on Facebook and a few post about drinking or how depressing their lives are. I don’t want my son to see them like that, but I also don’t want to go around telling everyone not to accept friend requests from him or make sure they block him from their posts. I can’t rely on them to protect my son from their adult-like rants, so no Facebook yet.
He has demonstrated a good level of maturity for his age and it will pay off for him. I’m just not ready for him to be on Social Websites as of yet. I want him to explore the human world and interact with people face-to-face before he begins his journey into virtual socialization.
Stephen this is exactly the dialogue I think we dads need to have with each other to help us determine what is going on in our children’s lives and how we can be a part of their growing and our learning. Thanks for the comment and keep being a special dad!
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