With the increasing involvement of technology in our day to day lives, as a parent it is important for us to understand the pros, cons and how to educate our children about digital literacy. In this blog we will cover what parents go through and how we can make digital parenting better..
Parents are too much worried !
Parents are often worried about the content which their children are consuming online. So, the question which we need to ask ourselves is – Can we remove or minimize screen time from our children life?
My answer to this would be – Technology penetration is growing rapidly, it is almost impossible for parents to keep their children away from screens ! While we may take mobile phones, switch off televisions, or tablets, desktops at home from our child, but every second kid has these resources available, so it is inevitable to avoid..
Kids are Digital Natives
The newer generation of kids which we call as Gen Z, Gen Alpha, Gen Beta and so on have technology as an important element of their day-to-day lives.
Kids are using ChatGPT for their school homework, its like their next door buddy !!
As per the data published on World Bank site, around 67.4% of individuals are using internet in the world which has grown by more than 2 times since 2010 (28.5%) !!
How to make Digital Parenting Effective?
Timely communication between parents and children about how technology affects our day-to-day plays a pivotal role in establishing a healthy family relationship
Here we are giving some key aspects which you could keep in mind to ensure that digital parenting is more effective:
1. Productive Screen Time is Good:
With increasing edutainment apps around, Parents can evaluate how their children spend time on internet. Apps like Kinzy, Duolingo, Lingo Kids etc. provide a lot of educational content which is fun and entertaining. It can enhance their child’s creativity skills and improve their academics with less effort.
Therefore, as a parent, we need to realize that technology if used appropriately, can play a pivotal role in success and growth of Children ..
2. Promoting Digital Literacy:
Digital Literacy is all about teaching children to be responsible and safe, while using internet alone to ensure kids don’t fall for non-age appropriate content.
3. Engaging Children in Open Communication:
Spend time with Children to understand, what they are consuming on the internet, what interests them, what do they like, what are their learnings.
Talk to them about how they can use technology to their advantage (Age doesn’t matter!!) Regular Open communication can build the habit of quality discussions amongst children and parents. Children will feel more comfortable coming back to you about whatever content they consume and parenting will become much easier !
4. Sharing your own Internet experiences:
Sharing your own experiences of how you use the Internet on a day-to-day basis, how it benefits you, what are the issues/ risks/challenges you have faced or face. Active communication about your own habits helps in opening up child’s mind and they may be able to share their experiences along the way
5. Watch your child’s behavior:
Observing your child’s behavior can help in gaining greater insights about their interactions with digital media. Are they becoming more expressive or creative or introverted or aggressive, or maybe is withdrawing himself or having multiple mood swings ? Whatever it is, as a parent we need to remember not to loose our calm and be patient.
Conclusion
Assessing on timely basis along with open communication can help you in taking corrective measures
At Kinzy, we are on a mission to boost kids creativity and make their screen time more productive for them. We believe kids are naturally creative, through our product we aim to enhance their skills and be their partner to success