Technology is a major part of most people’s lives these days – no matter their age. Whether old or young, chances are you have to use tech in some or most aspects of your life. If you’re the parent of young children, you probably struggle with how to introduce tech into their lives or wonder how large of a part it should play in their daily routines.
However, with anything, whether it’s ice cream or an iPad, too much of anything can have a negative impact on your well-being. Finding a balance is key, particularly when it comes to your children.
There are many different tips and tricks out there as well as helpful advice, but it can be hard to know what is best for your kids and your family. If you’re curious, here are 3 tech tips for parents of young children.
Utilize Child Locks
Just like you can lock up certain things in your home that are unsafe to toddlers, you can also put locks on your tech devices so that your kids don’t accidentally see things that may be inappropriate or dangerous to them. Do some research and you’ll find that you can put locks like these on smartphones, tablets, computers, televisions, and more. This way, when you’re busy working from home and trying to generate leads for your business in the other room, you’ll have peace of mind that your children are safe while surfing the web, playing their games, or watching their favorite show.
Set Limits
Setting limits on the amount of time each day or week your children are allowed to use the internet, telephone, television, or any other type of technology is a great idea. Depending on the ages of your kids, they may be incapable of setting such limits for themselves so they may need guidance from you.
Start out by allowing them to use certain things for an hour per day, and increase or decrease that amount of time as needed. For example, if they need to use a tablet or laptop to do their homework, you may give it to them for longer periods.
If they’re abusing their tech privileges, you may choose to decrease their time limit or cut them off entirely from using tech for a short period of time.
Teach Them About Safety
Talking to your kids about the dangers of the internet and how to stay safe while using tech is the best way you can keep them safe and make sure that they have the best experiences with tech possible. Teach them not to talk to strangers online or give out any identifying information.
Make sure they don’t have your financial information available so that they can’t make any purchases that aren’t authorized by you. Also, if they aren’t sure about something, encourage them to ask you!
Parenting young children is no easy task and this is especially true in this day and age with tech being everywhere. Hopefully these tips can help you to navigate that.
