The best coParents are warm, loving and have clear and consistent boundaries with their kids. They only make rules that make sense. These parents give kids rules about not doing specific behaviors.
Following the viewing of the film, Screenagers, and learning about kids’ addiction to technology, I thought of important advice for coParents to combat the addiction.
- Parents must be more mindful
- Parents must stress outdoor activities
- Eating time is cell free. In a restaurant cell are put in center of table and the first one to touch his/her phone picks up the tab for the entire meal.
- Parents should model appropriate tech behavior with their kids – so parents keep away from your phones, eat dinner as a family, no interruptions and don’t rush to your computer.
THERE IS A LOSS OF EMPATHY WITH TOO MUCH SCREEN TIME.
- Parents should have “Tech Talk Tuesdays” with their kids, make contracts for usage and get ideas from a site called CommonSenseMedia.org
- Keep watch on your child’s phone. If your child downloads apps, this information should immediately go to your phone. Put in strict parental controls on computers, tablets and phones.
- Kids need to get a sense of self-monitoring – that’s the goal.
- If a teen sees an inappropriate site by accident, he/she should tell parents and they should know how to help their kids.
- With multi-player games, predators get on the games and “fish” for information – teach kids to watch out or learn the signs of a predator. Such as when they are asking kids where they live, what their name is or what school they attend. Parents should “listen in”!
Author Judith Bin-Nun, Ph.D. MA, LMFT, LPCC, Child Development Specialist, Educator, Artist. Ph.D Clinical Child Psychology, LMFT, LPCC, MA Jewish Education, MA Psychology, MA Marriage, Family and Child Counseling.
http://www.drjudybin-nun.com
About Lori Denman-Underhill
