Talking to your child about Social Media

What do black, white, hispanic, Native American, Asian, African , and animals all have in common?

We protect our own.

Regardless of how dysfunctional or perfect your family/unit is, at the end of the day you care about them and they care about you.

Children are usually the focal point of the unit because their upbringing is essential to how they’ll be as adults. All of the humans mentioned above care for their child and their safety yet it amazes me how many parents don’t sit down with their kid, after a certain age, and just talk about issues that they should be more receptive to. One of these issues aside from surfing the web, is using social media correctly.

First of all as parents we know that there are only a certain amount of hours in the day and sometimes you don’t notice the latest fad or the world evolving, sometimes you don’t notice that your kid even starts swearing or when your child is having difficulty in certain school subjects. That is ok. You can’t be there for everything, but you should try to be observant and stay alert.

A lot of parents believe that their child starts using social media when their child has a phone and this is not true. As long as they have access to a computer, they have access to wide range of social media platforms, so talk to them.

What should you talk to them about?

• Who they should have as friends/followers.
• What they should and should not be seeing.
• What they should and should not be posting.
• That a real person is on the other end of the screen.
• That they should come to you when there’s an issue.
• They should be honest with you about what they are doing on that platform.
• Setting standards/restrictions.

If you as a parent have access to a world of people on your social media platforms, then so do they. Also, if you know the wide range of content that exists on certain platforms then you should restrict access if you do not think your child should be seeing it. Lastly, get involved with the social media your child likes; maybe you will like it as well and you will use it as much as them. This allows you to be in the know of all things that your child might be exposed to, and also gain some of the same interests for bonding purposes.