Social Media, protecting our children from its abuse

My four year old son is an avid fan of the Disney movie, “Cars”. His enthusiasm is magnetic as I too have become quiet engulfed with purchasing all of the movie’s paraphernalia. So it wasn’t unusual that my son would like to see videos of other children playing with their collection of Cars on YouTube.  As a mother, I’ve read countless articles on how to protect our children while they are on their internet. I followed many of the advices given which I practice with setting up my son’s computer. First, I made sure that he had access to only the sites he was allowed to visit. I made a list of all his favorite children shows and sites under his “favorites” listing. One of the save sites was the You Tube video clips of anything related to Disney’s Cars. I thought I had it all figured out until they day my husband found my son hysterically laughing watching a video clip of 10 naked Asian men. Although a funny story, I was horrified that such a video clip had snuck into our home.

Like this little video clip, is the threat social media presents. There are so many good things social media does provide that is unfortunate we see bad things sneaking into our children’s lives. We’ve seen some very disturbing incidents of cyberbullying, sexting and stalking.  So how are we to protect our children and prevent such incidents from occurring?

Here are some things we need to do with regards to Social Media and our children

·         Open Communication with children. Tell them of the threats that exist and to never be afraid to discuss something with you.

·         Set time limits on Social Media usage – For e.g. not during dinner or while doing homework

·         Place your child computer in a family room or area you can easily view when entering

·         Password / Access – If your child is of the permitted age, don’t be afraid to ask them for their password to check in on their profile

·         Set security levels high on your child’s profile

·         Parents keep up with the latest social media trends. Knowledge is power.

·         Check your child’s friends list and make sure they are indeed a friend.

As many parenting magazines and articles have said, talking to our children is where it all begins. The more communication we have with them the more confident they will feel when they encounter any type of social media problems.

So don't be afraid to speak their language. Send them a quick text message telling them you would love to have them join you for some family "talk” time.

-Adriana Muniz