How to Teach Your Child to Have a Healthy Relationship with Technology

Technology is all around us with our kids knowing more about it than us many times. With their increased knowledge comes our increased responsibility to teach them how to have a healthy relationship with technology.

This doesn’t mean you have to play technology police. It simply means you can teach them how to spend their time online wisely and safely. Let’s take a look at a few tips.

Teach your kids to be picky with how they spend their time online. Technology has so much to teach all of us. That’s why kids should carefully choose which programs and sites they visit. Encourage them to spend their time using educational sites and apps. Ask them what sites they’re visiting so that you can approve of them as well.

Keep tabs on social media. With so many different social media sites, be sure your kids know the risks of using them and who they’re sharing things with. Sharing the wrong thing with the wrong person can cause big problems down the road. Teach them to use social media responsibly; only friending people they know and only “talking” with people they know. You also need to be involved to make sure there is no inappropriate behavior.

Educate them about cyberbullying. Most tech-savvy kids know what cyberbullying is, but a quick refresher course never hurts. Teach them how to spot a cyberbully and what to do to if they think they’re being bothered by one. Also, be sure they know not to ever bully anyone online or in real life.

Spend time with them online. Spending time online doesn’t have to be something your child does alone. Take an interest in what they’re doing and spend them with them while they’re online. This way you’ll know what’s going on and you can sneak in some time together as well.

Encourage creativity. As your child spends more time with technology, encourage more creativity with its use. Instead of watching mindless videos, introduce them to apps and programs that will get them thinking. This is one way to show them how to use technology to advance themselves as well as open doors on new topics.

At MakerKids, we are constantly encouraging creativity in all of the children who participate in our programs. Through our after-school programs, camps, and private classes, kids learn how technology can help them create programs, games, and develop new skills. MakerKids is a safe environment where kids can interact with their peers and increase their knowledge of how technology impacts our world.

To learn more about our programs, contact MakerKids today at 1-844-MAKERKIDS or email us at [email protected].