I read A LOT of parenting and safety sites every day (for your benefit, lucky readers), and most of the articles I find that deal with kids and internet safety tend to exaggerate the threat of internet predators. So this article from Rachel Dretzin, writing for PBS Parents, was refreshing in identifying the greater struggle we face with the web: turning it off.
Rather than put lots of arbitrary rules on my children’s use of technology, I talk to them — frequently — about my own struggles to manage my relationship with my iPhone and my laptop. I confess my lapses, chastise my husband when he sneaks a peek at his phone during dinner, apologize profusely when I violate my own promise to stay away from all tech while I’m around my kids at dinnertime. It’s put a new focus on my parenting. I don’t think my kids look at me as someone who has all the answers, but they do see me as someone asking a lot of questions.
(I know for a fact that Sheila will appreciate this.)
I highly recommend checking out the whole thing at PBS Parents.
