I was talking to a colleague at work today who’s son was upset with her because she wasn’t going to allow him to have something that he wanted because of misbehavior. It was something very mild along the lines that he was not to have a friend over after school.
The son, not being too happy with the answer immediately went to facebook and updated his status to say just that. There was no foul language in the status update, but clearly there was a bit a a virtual tantrum displayed.
I’m curious how other’s have handled this kind of situation with their children. There are very few that are not more technically savvy then us now so we are all aware that they know how to use the tools. Of course not every “tween” has a facebook account, nor children younger than that. I can not even begin to imagine how often teachers may have to face these kinds of comments, especially those that have more digitally adapted classes.
I’m not a teacher, and I am not a parent, but I am very curious to know how do we teach “our children” who are only beginning to grow and develop their own online identities to remain digitally respectful of others.
All comments are welcome on this topic as a general discussion.
Kids who rant online will also usually rant offline as well, or pout, or react in some other similarly unhealthy way. My kids thankfully don’t act out and so far understand that rules and boundaries are there for a reason. I don’t leverage them unfairly nor do I let the punishment outweigh the crime. So, they know that with every “no” there’s a reason why and a fairness applied.
Remember that Facebook is no different than the foodcourt in the mall. I’ll bet if you sit there with a cup of coffee you’ll hear plenty of ranting and tantrums; and then there’s the kids! The thing to teach your kids is that there no reason why they shouldn’t express their frustration, anger, joy, confusion, etc but that they need to do so constructively. Having taught college and raised kids and managed people in the corporate world(some of the same behaviours occur) I have learned that if you are in a position of authority you need to have a valid reason for the decisions you are making. If someone under your authority doesn’t like it, you need to coach them on how to handle it constructively and you have to have thick skin about people making comments. That’s the courage of leadership as well as the responsibility of management in my opinion.
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Allow them to play the educational related games in online. They don’t know there are learning. some URL’s
http://www.elearningforkids.com
http://www.sciencescore.com