Parenting in the Age of Social Media!
Wouldn't you agree that we never got a chance to watch our parents deal with the modern-age problems of social media that we are now dealing with as parents? No one taught us how to deal with it. This is uncharted water for us. Nowhere have we previously been able to learn about this before becoming parents. Trying to deal with these modern electronics successfully is putting us on thinly-worn paths through strange dark forests that we have never ventured through before, and more importantly, have never even seen anyone else venture through.
So, what do we do today to help our kids better navigate the modern social media age? Well, I can tell you one thing that we shouldn't do. Let's not shame our kids on social media when they do something wrong.
Kids are kids. They aren't supposed to get everything right. We all know that young people, just by the nature of being young, aren't that good at delayed gratification. Their youth causes them to want everything still instantaneously. So shaming them on social media does nothing to get to the root of the problem. So why do it?
Parents should be the one that they can always trust... no matter what. Shaming them on social media will forever destroy that trust between a child and a parent. However, you know what will build that trust? Having an honest one-to-one conversation with them on what they did. Why it was wrong. And what alternatives could have been implemented. This will build trust. Build your relationship with your child and build bigger and better children.
Now, as my Granddaddy always said, "Go learn, lead, and lay the way to a better world for all of us." While we may be in a foreign land with this strange social media stuff, good parenting is still good parenting. So let's not stress ourselves out too much. Let's just use a little good old fashion common sense in the new social media age. And once again parents, thanks in advance for all that you do, and all that you will do...
