Today’s blog post is a preview of Adoption STAR’s brand new E-Book entitled “Adoption and Social Media: The Effects of Social Media and The Internet on Child Adoption.” This book covers the history of social media, having an open adoption relationship via social media, performing adoption searches using social media, and keeping your children safe on the Internet. To receive your FREE copy of this E-Book, please email [email protected].
Chapter 2: Keeping your child safe on Social Media
Social Media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others, all have privacy settings that users can manipulate to make their profiles as public or private as they see fit. The next two chapters will look into speaking openly and honestly to your children about the positives and the dangers that the Internet presents, as well as updating privacy settings on all three websites.
There are many classes and workshops available to parents that teach them about the positives and detriments of social media, and prepare them to keep their children safe on the Internet. One proactive tip is to join Facebook and Twitter yourself if you haven’t done so already. This way you will know what your kids will and will not be able to do on the social media sites. Also, by being “friends” with your children on social media sites, it may prevent them from publicly posting videos, photos and status updates that may be inappropriate.
It will be difficult to keep your teenage children off of social media sites. Even if you do not allow Facebook, Twitter and similar sites at your house, your kids will most likely have Internet opportunities at school, on their cellphones or at a friend’s house. Instead of fighting against joining social media sites, it is often more reasonable to allow children of a certain age to join them, while making them follow strict rules.
These rules can include:
– That they must be “friends” with you on all of their social media sites, and that they can not block you from viewing any part of their public profile.
– They must provide you with the email address and password for all of their social media accounts so that you can see any private messages and confirm they have not blocked you from viewing their profile.
Setting Internet and social media usage guidelines for your children is important, it’s also important to be a positive role model for your children on the Internet. If your children see you posting inappropriate photos (past or present) or sharing too much information in your status updates, then you are setting a precedent that it is OK for them to do the same. By remaining socially appropriate on your social media page, you are teaching your children what you expect of them.
Being friends with your children on social media, viewing their profiles regularly and being a positive Internet role model is a start to keeping them safe on the Internet. Another important aspect is speaking to them regularly about the dangers of the World Wide Web. It’s important to discuss with your children that people may not be who they claim to be online, and to never give out private information like a phone number, address, social security number etc.
When speaking with your children about the dangers of the Internet, try to find ways to connect with them by using age-appropriate examples that they can relate to. A scene from a movie or an article from a newspaper can provide the starting point for a conversation about the dangers of the Internet. These tangible examples can provide a good opportunity to make an impression with your children.
If you would like to read the full Adoption STAR E-Book on social media and child adoption, please email [email protected] to receive your FREE copy.