How To Encourage Healthy Online Habits In Your Kids
You could argue that being a parent in the 21st Century is a lot harder than it was in previous eras. Sure, your parents will argue against that, but think about the added threats out there these days. With the rise of the internet, you don’t just have to worry about keeping your children safe in real life. Instead, you have to care for their well-being in the online world.
Look, the last thing any parent wants is for their child to get hurt. So, how do you prevent this from happening on the internet? Instead of banning your kids from going online, try encouraging healthy online habits. Here are a few ideas you could try:
Encourage them to read useful blogs
Kids can waste hours on the internet going down rabbit holes and seeing all kinds of harmful stuff. Instead, encourage yours to find things they’ll enjoy. Look for blogs they can read based on their interests. Are your kids big fans of sports like football? If so, you have safe blogs from people like Stephen Troese Jr where they can read all about the latest happenings in the NFL.
Likewise, if they’re fans of comics or movies, there are loads of blogs they can read. The benefit of this is two-fold: you stop your kids from going down rabbit holes and you encourage them to read more often.
Recommend educational YouTube channels
YouTube can be awesome and appalling for kids on the internet. There are loads of bad videos out there, but equally as many – if not more – good ones. As a parent, recommend educational YouTube channels to your children. This gives them videos to watch that are both entertaining and useful.
As a result, they learn while they’re online, broadening their knowledge base. At the same time, if they keep watching these videos, YouTube will recommend similar ones. Therefore, they end up seeing more of the good videos and less of the bad ones.
Keep them away from social media
Let’s be honest, social media is no place for kids. It’s probably not even a good place for teens. Realistically, you should have to upload some form of ID proving you’re an adult to be on social media these days.
Keeping your child away from sites like Twitter or Instagram will help them enjoy a healthier online experience. There are simply too many negative things on these sites that can easily influence young minds. What’s worse, it is almost impossible to avoid them. You don’t want your child to slip into the bad habit of mindlessly scrolling through social media, being presented with so many ideas or views of the world that are simply wrong. Instead, you could try blocking these sites on your internet connection. It stops your kids from accessing them – when they get older, you can remove the block and leave it up to them whether or not they wish to partake. For now, in the interest of their safety, social media is a big no.
Just like that, you’ve laid the foundations for healthier online habits in your kids. This will keep them safe while ensuring they actually benefit from being on the internet.
