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Are you sometimes concerned or amazed at how fast your 4-year old child learn stuff? Well, to tell you the truth most parents do! The fact of the matter is that kids even as early as 24 months old are already capable of deductive reasoning much like the Bayesian mathematical probability model. Scientists think that this is how children are learning faster than adults, or perhaps adults are just more naive as they grow up than little children are.
In relation to this essential data, the internet is now probably the most common place where people go to for acquiring knowledge and information.
However, the internet does not have safeguards or protocols that will protect your child from accessing information that is detrimental to their health – particularly their mental health. But the good news is that you can be the safeguard for them! What you need to do is to teach your child how to safely navigate the web when using tablets and the internet.
Here are 5 crucial tips that you must learn, as a parent, in guiding your child in using the internet:
1. Make learning fun to do
You may have spotted the word “discipline” in the title of this article, but that word doesn’t mean that you’ll be hard on your kids while you teach them new things. Like the internet, for example, while there are many not-so-very-nice things out there, it can actually be a powerful tool to build up your child’s intelligence and logical reasoning.
The key here is, when using tablets and the internet, don’t make it seem like a classroom setting for your child. He’s already been bombarded with semi-dictatorship style of learning in school and the last thing he wants from you is a similar experience.
Loosen up and have fun as you help your child learn new things on the web, even if it’s those silly online games. It is a big deal for them and it will also help their development as you spent time with them.
2. Do not tell them more than what they need to know about the internet
DO NOT EVER TELL THEM about the sad and gloomy stuff on there, like terrorism or the lewd things that are not even appropriate for their hearing at their age.
Be responsible with the information you share with your child – even if it’s just the briefing time when you inform them of how you navigate the web. What sites to visit, what games to play, what they should and should not do while using tablets and the internet.
3. Learn how to use parental controls on tablets as if you were the one who made them
It’s sad to know that some parents do not take this seriously. I’ve heard a few times that some child inadvertently accessed a gambling or disturbing news video on certain websites and had caused the child to have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) or a negative outlook about financial management as a result.
This could have been avoided if the parental controls were calibrated and did what it was supposed to do to exactly prevent such things from happening. So the best thing for you to do while using tablets and the internet is to read, memorize, practice and master the device settings of the tablet you bought for your child. This will help you protect your child from potentially harmful information on the web.
4. Watch your child while he or she is using the web
You being present while your child navigates the web is very important not only for his or her safety, but it also helps them appreciate you spending time with them as it builds strong affections between parents and children.
This will instill the thought in the child that you are someone who they can depend on for anything and they will see you as their hero too! They will not only learn right from wrong, which creates their moral compass, but they will also understand why certain things are right and some are wrong. In time your child will not only grow knowledgeable, but also wise.
5. Be supportive and talk to them about what they’ve learned each day
Each day your child learns something new. Whether it’s educational or recreational it can be useful to their development and you, as a parent, have a responsibility to help the child develop and mature and become a responsible and reasonable person that they ought to be.
So encourage them and cheer them up every time they’ve succeeded in reaching a new level in the games that they’re playing, or when they found out that matter is made up of tiny stuff called atoms, etc. etc.
Conclusion
Once you’ve implemented these subtle disciplines on your children when they’re using tablets and the internet, then you will be amazed at how this parent-child relationship works.
You’ll be able to bond with them at the intellectual and emotional level and your kids will want to be like you when they grow up. You will be their hero as they’re growing up and sure enough, they will be the bright and responsible adult that you’ve always wanted them to be.
