Worried about your kids and screens? Advice, resources for parents

Rex Crum of the Bay Area News Group has reached out to several Bay Area parents and organizations about the role of technology in children’s lives. Here, he provides some guidelines and online resources.

Worried about your kids and their screens? Here’s some advice:

Talk with your kids about their devices and what they can be used for. The national PTA Smart Talk program offers a resource kit to help facilitate such discussions.
Consider the ages of your children. By the time they get to middle school, many kids could be ready for a smartphone.
Take a role in monitoring how long your child is spending in front of a TV or screen device. Stay near your children and use the time they are online to do some reading yourself, or work on a project.
Set a timer. Many devices have the capability to program a shut-off time after a certain length of use.
Read up on COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. This law gives parents the right to control what kinds of information websites can collect from their children and is geared toward children under the age of 13.

Here are some additional resources for parents:

ConnectSafely.org, of Palo Alto, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating users of connected technology about safety, privacy and security.
The American Academy of Pediatrics includes 66,000 pediatricians committed to to the physical, mental and social health of infants, children and young adults.
The national Parent Teacher Association (PTA) offers its Smart Talk toolkit that includes videos and documents for use in discussions and programs on the use of technology and social media.
The Federal Trade Commission has a web page with all the information one would need about the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Common Sense Media offers articles and guides for parents about online content and privacy.

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Published at Sat, 03 Jun 2017 15:00:21 +0000