With access to the internet in the palm of your child’s hand at every moment, it’s no longer a matter of if they’ll be exposed to inappropriate content, but when.
“We pulled my phone out of the box, and my Mom and Dad were going through and looking at all the apps already on the phone, and my phone starts ringing,” explained Kimberly Rasmussen after getting her first cellphone.
The person on the other end was the last thing that her and her family expected.
“It was like, ‘This is a call from an inmate at the Lubbock prison,’ and they were like, ‘Uh, wrong number,'” said Kimberly.
Fortunately for Kimberly, her dad is an expert on children and social media, and they had discussed what to do if something like that where to happen. But, he said that isn’t the typical thing for parents to do.
“Our first reaction as parents is to circle the wagons,” said Eric Rasmussen, a Texas Tech media professor with a specialty in children and media.
It’s that reaction that parents need to get rid of, he said.
“Instead of trying to protect them from everything, we are empowering them to deal with the content that they’ll see because they will see it,” said Rasmussen.
The first step to doing that starts with the parents.
“If we want to change how kids use media, we need to change how parents use media,” said Rasmussen.
He explained that children are excellent imitators, and they will typical do what they see their parents do instead of what they say the child should do.
The second step is to not avoid the tough conversations about inappropriate content.
“If we want our voice to be in our kids’ head when they’re encountering things in the media, when they see things in the media, we have to have had those conversations beforehand,” said Rasmussen.
Just because you may have a small child doesn’t mean it’s too early to start having those discussions.
“When our youngest daughter was 5, we had the pornography conversation with her before we had the Santa conversation with her. The media environment is such now that we have to have those conversations early,” said Rasmussen.
The final tip to helping your child be ready is by having a reason for your rules. It’s not enough to say your child must do something because you said so. Instead, explain to your children the reason for the rules, and Rasmussen said it’s more likely your child will accept and adopt those rules as their own rules.
Rasmussen also has a book designed to help parents navigate social media with their children. It’s called Media Maze.
To learn more about Cyber Safety and TTU K-12, you can visit them here.