Let us start with THE GOOD! Cell phones are great for many reasons one is the immediate access to our children...when they answer. We have a rule if you don't answer Mom and Dad then you will not be answering it at all for a few days. (Except with a believable excuse...emphasis on believable.) They are also handy when they are doing homework because the Internet is right at their finger tips. For those of you that have kids of the driving age if they get lost a smart phone can even help them find their way home!
Now let's talk about THE BAD! Let's be real the texting does affect our children's social skills. I find myself telling my oldest "When you speak to someone look them in the eye and shake their hand." Of course he is timid by nature but the cell phone does make it worse! For kids texting makes them bolder, braver and ruder at times. They may text something they would never say to someone face to face. They most likely spend to much time on their phone...as do we grown ups. Recently we have made a No Phone rule during family time and dinner. So far it has worked pretty well.
Of course there are much worse things than lack of social skills in the smart phone world that affect our children. I am going to name them they hurt me as I type them because as mothers we do not like to think of our children would do anything wrong but lets be honest they are kids and they do stupid stuff! Ok here we go: Sexting, Child Pornography, Vulnerability to child predators, Access to inappropriate content, Legal issues. How scary were those to read?!?! So this of course is the UGLY!
There are more social apps out there and by all means I cannot name them all or discuss them but I would like to discuss one and that is Snapchat. Are you aware that this little app allows kids/teens to send text and or photos to someone and after 3 seconds it disappears.....or so that is what the children believe. We all know that once something has been sent it is out there somewhere in the virtual world. This is a nonnegotiable app at my house. It is not allowed on any phone or device that Rick and I own. Back to that legal issue mentioned in the last paragraph...if one of my children is caught with child pornography on their phone Rick and I go to jail!! So needless to say any app that I can't look at and see what was sent is NOT ALLOWED!
Do you feel discouraged? Well don't we as parents are not helpless in this fight! Here is our plan of action and if you have other suggestion I am always eager to hear them so please comment below.
*Make sure your child's device is age appropriate (that is different for each child and as parents we have to make that decision...you know your child the best)
*Use Filters (i.e. Phone Sheriff, Mobile Spy) There are a ton of filters you can go to the app store and search for "parental controls". Read all of the reviews before choosing one.
*Family Password- in other words there is not a device or app that we do not have the password to. We own the phone and we allow them to use it so it is our right to have all passwords.
*Regular phone checks- Yes they will gripe about this but they get use to it.
*Parental Controls on the phone (Settings, General, Restriction-ON...you can customize)
Can we protect our kids from all of their bad decisions...No but as a parent isn't our job to protect them as much as we can? The most important step we can take with our kids is teaching them and showing them to have a relationship with Christ and to spend quality time with them. We can also be involved virtually and and in the real world with them and their friends.
I would like to hear your opinions on this subject! If you have something to add, questions or even if you totally disagree with this post I want to hear it so please comment....Mainly so I know someone is reading it!Ha-Ha Just a REMINDER: I fall short a lot of times on things I should do so if you miss a week of checking phones just pick it back up the next week. I try to be consistent but sometimes my A.D.D. gets in the way:)
other sites you can visit:
— http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/04/04/75-fo-teens-have-cell-phones-30-toting-an-iphone-infographic/
K9 Web Protection Browser is a good one also. It's available for mobile devices and PC's.
ReplyDeleteTimes have changed so much. When I was in middle school at Edgewater, our form of social networking was passing notes under the roll away walls in the classrooms. LOL! This is good information Gina. Keep it coming, even grandparents need to know about these things, even if we do think our babies are "grand". :)
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