For parents and families, there are a variety of resources available for helping your child develop into a positive digital citizen. Here are some resources to start the conversation with your children.
Common Sense Media
Common Sense is a resource-rich site for all families and educators. Dedicated to seeing kids thrive in a world of media and technology, the site contains resources and tools for parents and teachers to help kids make wise decisions.
- Reviews – Not sure if your child should read a particular book or curious what conversations to expect after watching the latest video? Check out the Common Sense Media Review section. You will find reviews for books, movies, TV shows, and video games.
- Parent Concerns – A section of the site containing a variety of resources (videos, articles, blog posts) for topics parents often ask about regarding technology (ex: screentime, cyberbullying, social media, etc.).
- Parent Blog – Regularly updated blog posts for parents and educators on helping students use technology effectively. Topics can range from whether or not you should let your kid see a particular movie to great books for Christmas or apps that help with mathematical reasoning. You can subscribe to the blog via email or get regular posts by liking Common Sense Media’s Facebook page.
- Connecting Families – These pages are technically buried in the Educator section, but have phenomenal resources for families. Two powerful sections to check out are Discuss and Share. The Discuss section contains short articles and vignettes parents can use with their children to discuss how to handle situations like cyberbullying or multitasking and time management. The Share area has an amazing Family Tool kit with resources like customizable technology contracts and family media agreements.
Common Sense Media Parent Tip Sheets
Options for Limiting Technology Access
Concerned about this site your child might be accessing or the amount of time they are spending online? Or perhaps you are simply interested in a tool that would help you monitor and channel online activities? These might be some tools for you.
- Network Filtering – There are a variety of options for filtering your home network. Often, these will filter all users at the same level regardless of device they are using.
- Filtering Through Your Router – Depending on your router or internet service provider you might have the ability to limit or filter websites. Many service providers also provide third party tools. Here are a few to check out.
- Device Restrictions – Most modern devices allow you to set up some restrictions from programs and websites you can access to even time limits for using a computer. Below are links for setting up restrictions (often called “parental controls”) depending on your hardware and operating system.