From time to time, I have conversations with parents about mean, hurtful, or even bullying behaviors that we, at school, need to help remedy. Even though many of these issues take place outside of school, it becomes the school’s concern if or when a child begins to feel unsafe or when his or her ability to learn in school is affected.

 

Working with K-5 students in this community allows me to help with very age appropriate issues. And, given that the Walden teachers are excellent at handling many of the  low-level, “s/he cut me in line”-type of issues, I often times get involved when things may be a little more serious or consequential. I am empowered by the opportunity to work with kids of this age and provide strategies to ensure students learn from their mistakes and so that the negative behaviors do not happen again. At the end of the day, our main goal is help children make wiser decisions as they grow up, not to devise the harshest punishment that proves the strongest lesson.

 

I am starting to hear more about incidences of cyberbullying – typically with regard to our 4th and 5th grade students with Instagram accounts. There is certainly a reason that the minimum age to open an account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Snapchat is 13 years old. YouTube even requires account holders to be 18, but a 13-year-old can sign up with a parent’s permission. While I don’t know the number of our kids with accounts, some of our 9 and 10 year old students are using social media networks, often with their parent’s knowledge and consent. I am not judging this decision. And, I certainly trust that any parent with a child with a social media account is taking precautions and monitoring things closely. Nonetheless, you are encouraged to read the following article about the underlying world of Instagram so you can properly navigate this part of parenting that our parents did not have to deal with. While the article focuses on girls, it certainly applies to all kids.

http://time.com/3559340/instagram-tween-girls/

If you decide to allow your child to have any social media account, here are “6 rules for raising a kid on tech.” 

1. Parents get the passwords. Non-negotiable.
2. If you will be popping into their account to check on them, set clear parameters for when and why, then STICK TO IT. Trust is everything.
3. Lead up to if from a young age. Social media accounts are a privelege earned when good judgement is consistently shown.
4. Get your own account on any medium they are on. Following each other is not optional. Watch but don’t bombard their page with your likes and comments. Better if you fade into the scenery and just observe.
5. Subscribe to their pages so you never miss a post. Take missteps as golden chances for conversation and critical thinking about how it can affect their audience. Don’t critique every single post, though. Be sparing.
6. Save their eyes with the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes, they must look 20 feet into the distant for 20 seconds.