Jodi Gold spoke at my school's Parents Association meeting on finding balance in children’s use of technology (in its various forms). She was entertaining, informative, and most of all, constructive.
I have not read her book (screen-smart parenting) yet (though I purchased it on the spot), but if it is half as useful as her talk, it is a must read.
She gave us practical advice upon practical advice: everything from how to talk to your kids about selfies to creating family guidelines and behavior plans that work, and much more.
The key take away for me was that working on kids’ healthy relationship with technology should begin in nursery school.
Some other tips from her included:
- have your tween/teen install the self control app
- don’t spy on your kids, get in the practice of them touring you through their tech world, and giving you their passwords
- use technology to send people compliments and caring expressions
- delete embarrassing photos
- don’t like mean posts
- unsubscribe from mean group chats
- do talk about pornography with your kids
- too many more to list!
