The online world is a very dangerous one, especially for your children. As a parent, it is essential that you talk to your children at an early age about their online activity and reputation.
The reality is that there are many dangers posed to children online. Online predators, thieves, and bullies who may try and take advantage of young children.
Furthermore, the reputation that your child has online is also very important. If your child does not have a good online reputation, it can reflect poorly on them when it comes time to get a job or anything else of the sort. What your children post on their social media accounts matters, particularly in terms of their future.
Today, we’re going to talk to you about how you can talk to your kids about their online activity and reputation. No, talking to kids is not easy, especially when it comes to difficult concepts.
However, with a calm voice, and maybe a treat to keep them happy, you can sit your kids down long enough to discuss how important it is to maintain a good online reputation and be smart when operating online.
Understanding a Child’s Online World
The online world is a very dangerous place, and this is something your kids need to know. There are scammers who want nothing more than to exploit your children.
Some want to steal identities, those who want to steal money, and yes, child predators too. Bullies and groups of bullies also exist and they like to make life very hard for young kids.
Therefore, it is extremely important that you talk to your child at a young age. Both you and your children need to be aware of these threats so you can prepare adequately.
Your kids need to know what is safe to do and what is not safe to do, and they need to know the difference between right and wrong. Your kids need to be smart when it comes to interacting with other people, and they need to behave right too.
This is so your children can avoid being targeted by predators, scammers, and thieves. However, it’s also so your children behave right and treat others properly. This is a two-way street.
Setting Ground Rules for Online Behavior
Due to all of the reasons discussed above, setting some ground rules for your children regarding their online persona is very important. As a parent, it is your duty to set extremely clear and strict guidelines and expectations that your children will have to follow. If your children don’t follow them, there must be consequences.
This means that you need to set rules about the people they can interact with, and how they interact with others. Examples of these are as follows:
- “you are not allowed to talk to anyone whom we have not approved.”
- “You are not allowed to make others purposely feel bad about themselves.”
- “You are not allowed to go on websites that have adult content.”
You could always engage in some role-playing exercises to enforce these rules and guidelines, so your children understand exactly what you are talking about.
Encouraging Positive Online Behavior
Of course, you as a parent need to instill in your children what it means to have good behavior online. You need to tell them what kind of impact those words and actions have on other people. This is where those role-playing exercises can come in handy because you can demonstrate to your child just how hurtful words and actions can be.
You therefore also need to discuss with them what the consequences of negative online behavior might be. At the very least, you need to explain that other people are not going to feel good about themselves.
However, there are also instances where very poor online behavior can lead to serious consequences, such as legal action.
At the very least, you need to discuss with your children how you are going to punish them if they fail to meet your expectations. Let’s take a quick look at some tips for promoting responsible online behavior.
- Provide your children with extra free time if they follow your rules and guidelines.
- Let your children know that there will be consequences if they don’t follow your rules.
- Always reward your children for being respectful and responsible.
Monitoring Online Activity
Of course, you can’t always trust your children to do as you say or as they say they will. Therefore, it is important that you monitor your child’s online activity.
There are a variety of applications that you can use to quite literally watch their screens as they go online. Furthermore, always being in the same room with them when they are online is another good idea.
With that being said, you do also want to give your children some privacy as this will help build trust. Constantly monitoring your children, even when they seem to be doing good and following the rules, will end up discouraging them. A little bit of trust goes a long way.
Conclusion
Try to monitor your kids online, especially if they are new to the online world. Remember, there are many threats to your children, and your children can also post threats to others.
Therefore, you need to teach your children to be respectful online, and you need to teach them what the dangers are that they need to look out for.
With that being said, most children are intelligent and respectful, so you probably have nothing to worry about, although it is better to be safe than sorry.
