Your child manages to complete a particularly difficult task and you applaud her with “Good Job”!
Your toddler shares her snack with her friends and you want to positively reinforce this good behavior so you toss out a “Good Job”!
We read plenty of books that warn us against using punishments and spankings to model behavior so we instantly rely on a “Good Job” for positively reinforcing any example of good behavior or accomplishing a worthy task. Seems easy enough, right?
Today, children are learning how to use computers and the internet. Many of the younger children love to watch funny videos online on websites such as You Tube. When they are at that age, you will have to show them how to use the computer. As they get older, they are going to require some sort of instruction on how to use the computer and internet.
The internet is not safe for little eyes. There are many websites that your kids could easily find that you don’t want them to see. They also might use some sort of chat software/website to chat with the wrong kind of people. There are many predators online that you will have to protect your child from. There is a good chance that without instruction, your child is going to come across some inappropriate content online. Now, not all children are going to be put in this situation, but is better to be safe than sorry.
To start out, you should be aware of what your children are doing online. You might want to create a set of bookmarks that they can visit so they don’t have to go out searching. If you know that your children have a project coming up on a certain topic, you might want to find them some websites, bookmark them and show them how to access those bookmarks. This could result in your children feeling some independence when using the computer to do research for their school project. Another option is installing special software on your computer that tracks the activity on your computer. This may be needed when your children are a little older and curious about things they shouldn’t be.
If your child is at an age where he/she uses the internet already, be sure to talk to them on a regular basis about what they are doing. Ask about their online friends and real names of those friends. A big problem is children signing up for social networking websites such as Myspace and Facebook. They get an account and pretend to be older than they really are. They then can be contacted by users all over the world. Children have been known to share too much information online and then be taken advantage of by predators.
Your children are going to want some privacy depending on their age. Try to keep a trusting and open relationship with them so they don’t have to try to hide anything from you. Keeping your children safe online is very important. Be sure to keep your computer safe from viruses too. Having a virus on your computer could result in unwanted ads being shown on your computer screen.
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