Twisted Tales of the Internet with Stories and Poems
1. Celebrate opportunities in the digital world, while reducing the risks
Internet, social media and technology can present fantastic opportunities and raise aspirations for our children, if they can use technology well. Parents can guide their children with common sense, experience and your own parenting style will help.
2. Start conversations and communicate
Ask about the games they like; new apps, their favourite parts, what they like to do, etc. Although your child will certainly be impressed if you sprinkle some terminology in the conversation too. Get involved in your child’s digital life and stay involved, strike up conversations regularly.
3. Be a digital role model
This means putting down your smartphone, tablet or laptop and looking into your child’s eyes and listening. We often think that think that screen time off is just for children and young people, but the truth is many adults are in need of some digital detox too. Oversharing is a no- no too; taking tons of photos of your child and posting on Facebook accounts has been shown to cause anxiety for children.
4. Build resilience into their digital lives.
Parents can teach their children to be resilient which will allow their child to not feel so bad from some of the online issues which may happen. Parents can help their children increase their social and emotional skills so that children will be able to understand and manage their online lives.
Katherine Mullin 