Parenting in a Digital Age | 10 Best Tips for Parents

There is no denying that technology is an important tool to make our modern, highly digitalized lives simpler. However, for our kids these days, it is as essential as oxygen! They learn the use of technology faster than adults, and as Jaron Lanier said that technology is like their native language. The way kids keenly grasp all the science and technology news for kids and how they adapt all the latest technological advancements in their lives, it feels as if they have been waiting for centuries for someone to invent their native language!   

While technology and gadgets are an integral part of our kids’ lives, and kids love technology, it is still important to bring them to strike a balance between everything they love. 

We see parents complaining often that their kids spend more time using various devices, and they are apprehensive if it is a good thing for their kids to be so much involved in all the science and technology news and products. But this is what parents have to understand. You can’t control your kids as they may feel suffocated, but through some tips, you can still help your children bring discipline in their lives and to maintain a balance between all the things they like, whether it’s science and technology for those kids or any other thing they love. 

Here are some highly effective tips that you can follow as a parent in this digital age or you can visit InfantEmpire.com for more parenting tips.

• Set the right precedent

Basically, parents must try to be a good role model for their children. If your kids see you indulging heavily in science and technology and ignoring relations and other important things in life, they will also follow your footsteps.  

• Incorporate thoughtful family values

Teach them that in a family unit everyone shares everything, and it is not because someone is trying to control the other person, but it is because of love and harmony. Give them the confidence to know that you, as a parent and their friend, will always be available for them whenever they want to share something with you, be it in the digital world, or anything else in life. 

• Form media units

Introduce them to various social platforms that are safe for their age and join those forums with them as a family media unit. But do not try to judge them by how they interact with others. One wrong comment and they will stop confiding in you and sharing their social media activities with you. Also, teach them thoughtful and mindful usage of online platforms without trying to dominate them or curb their curiosities. 

• Keep an eye without appearing like a ‘peeping Tom!’

As a parent, you must try to keep an eye on your kids’ friends, both online and offline, and you must look into the apps and software they use on their devices. 

• Set limits to set their priorities right

 Encourage them for offline games that can develop their creative intellectuality and teach them to prioritize offline activities too. Set some limits for them. Design an interesting schedule for them that can include online as well as healthy offline activities too. 

• Help them develop better language skills

Talking on the phone or through a video cam is a great thing, but you must teach your children the importance of face-to-face conversations and meetings too. That helps in their language skills development and makes them feel more confident around the people in the real world than their friends in the virtual realm. 

• Science and technology are not emotional soothers

Do not engage a crying child with an app on your phone to make them stop crying. They should never have to rely on digital gadgets for their emotional needs. As a parent, YOU must be there for them as their pacifier!

1. Privacy issues

 Teach them about online privacy concerns and warn them about the dangers of inappropriate communication with strangers and illegal websites. This will help them in future. 

1. Observe their behavior closely

Both online and offline. If they are sharing some dark images or thoughts on their social profiles, see if they are going through some trouble in their real-life that’s perhaps translating in their online posts and comments.

1. Be kind to your kids

At the end of the day, they are kids, and you have to treat them with a lot of patience and empathy. But make sure that they know that you are there for them and they trust you with all their tender feelings and emotions. Don’t make them feel abandoned or lonely at all!

The future of your kids in your hands now.