This column continues the series on setting limits on your kid’s access to and use of social media and the internet at different ages. The focus of this column is on the expectations and recommendations for kids in grades 7 and 8. If strategies or information have been covered in previous columns from earlier ages, you will be referred back …
Developmental Stages of Access to Social Media Grades 5-6 Part II
This column continues the series on setting limits on social media and the internet at different ages. This is the second part of a discussion on the expectations for kids in grades 5 and 6. The focus of this column will be recommendations for cell phones, video games and social media accounts. Cell Phones. It is really difficult for a …
What is a reasonable curfew?
If you ask your kid, they are likely to say: I am old enough to decide for myself when it is time to come home. You should trust me. My friend’s parents let them stay out really late all the time. And besides, this isn’t some fascist state like . . . like . . . somewhere else. This is …
Developmental Stages of Access to Social Media Grades 5-6, Part I
This column continues the series on setting limits on your kid’s access to and use of social media and the internet at different ages. The focus of this column is on the expectations for kids in grades 5 and 6. The focus of this column will be on recommendations for kids this age. When particular strategies or information have been …
When Your Teen’s Afterschool Job Takes Over Their Life
There are a number of ways teens can benefit from having a part time job. They earn their own money (and are responsible for some of their personal expenses to learn the value of a dollar). It fills their time with something productive (compared to updating their social network page or playing video games). A job gives them the irreplaceable …
Does Your Teen Need (or deserve) A Car
A teenager’s first car. It’s the embodiment of freedom in America. It’s access to the open road. No more asking permission to use the family car. No more listening to a parent’s playlist. Every teenager needs their own car, right? (Sound of screeching brakes) No. There is no compelling justification for a teenager to have a car of their own. …
Developmental Stages of Access to Social Media Grades 1-4 (part 2)
Video games. Pay very close attention to the messages your kid will get from the video games they play. Video games are programmed. That means someone has decided what the appropriate, reasonable or desirable response should be to each and every situation the character encounters. Someone else is shaping your kid’s values, over and over again. Kids should only play …
Developmental Stages of Access to Social Media Grades 1-4 (part 1)
It’s 2013, do you know how where your kid is (on the world wide web)? Elementary school children are not ready for full and unfettered access to the internet or social media. Their judgment is limited. They are cognitively, social and psychologically naïve. They are susceptible to flawed logic and deception by others. This makes them gullible. They need to …
Developmental Stages of Access to Social Media
OK, I’m going out on a limb here. There is a lot being said and written about kids and social media. The problem is that there is precious little specific guidance given on how to decide what is best for kids of different ages. Here is my attempt to wade into the discussion. This column will propose a system for …
More Questions (for your teenager) from Steubenville, Ohio
The previous column presented questions to generate a conversation between you and your teenager about issues raised by the rape of a teenage girl in Steubenville, Ohio. The questions continue. Responsibility Whose fault is it when someone is attacked? What if they were saying really insulting things to the person who attacked them? What if they were walking around in …