Technology is prevalent in your children’s lives before they can even talk. Toys are more interactive. Computers are found in nearly every public school. Many middle-aged parents are finding out that their kids know more about how to use a computer than they do.
So how can parents keep up? Use G.L.U.E., Get, Learn, Use and Explain.
G – Get: Kids, Parents & Technology means getting the same technology the children want.
If you are going to promise your young child or teen that awesome smartphone that just came out on the market, be sure that you are able to get yourself one too. This way you know exactly what you are putting into your child’s hands. Remember to get all their friends’ phone numbers stored in your own phone so that you can always have a way to reach your child no matter whom he or she is with.
If your child has a Facebook, Twitter, or other social media account, you should get one too. Be sure to “friend” your children as well as their friends. It may seem weird at first but it allows you to see what your kids are posting publicly.
L – Learn. Kids, Parents & Technology means knowing what the children are using.
A good parent should know all the ins and outs of the gadgets you give your kids so you can warn them of what not to do and what quirks or glitches a piece of technology may exhibit. You want to be the one they come to with questions and not the other way around.
U – Use: Kids, Parents & Technology means continuing to use the same technology to stay in the loop.
Learning to how to use the technology is good, but even better is actually using the technology regularly. Having the latest hardware isn’t enough because software and phone apps are constantly updating and changing. Use the technology on a day-to-day basis so that you stay up-to-date.
E – Explain: Kids, Parents & Technology means working to keep each other safe as well as up-to-date.
Explaining goes far beyond just instructing your child on how to use the technology but also covers rules of etiquette, safety, and your own house rules. The consequences of a bad post, text message, or tweet can be devastating to not only your child but to their complete social circle. Parents should teach their children about not posting while angry, not saying things that could be regretted afterwards, and just being careful period because anything you put on the internet can become permanent. Even if a post is deleted, there is a copy cached in a server somewhere and can remain there indefinitely.
Safety too, is easily compromised when posting things online. The “don’t talk to strangers” motto is lost online because of MMPORGs and other social games where you are constantly interacting with strangers. Posting pictures and status updates can be very dangerous too if you have pictures that show personal documents in the background, posts about times away from home, and up-to-the-minute location status updates.
House rules are the ones you set down as a parent in regards to using technology such as requiring your child’s login information for their email address. As a parent, you respect your child’s privacy but at the same time you should have access to their email accounts at any given time in case something was to happen to your child.
Kids, Parents & Technology are together from here on so following the GLUE guidelines will help you to be a smart parent.