Trinity KidsThoughts on kids, family, faith and home.

11) Children can hide status updates from their parents. If you want to see what your child is doing – log onto their profile.

12) Advertisements are being intergrated into all things technical – youtube, ipods and iphones, websites, etc. The content and devices may be ok, but you don’t know what the advertisements are like.

13) What is unacceptable now, will be acceptable in the coming years. Things that we question will slowly become more and more common. What you say ‘no’ to now, may be taken for granted in two years. That is the trend. One example is Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook) is advocating that Facebook age restrictions be removed to allow all ages.

14) Your children are watching you and how you use technology

15) Protecting our online identity and personal information is just as important as ‘don’t talk to strangers or get in cars with people you don’t know’. Learn what this means and practice it.

16) Children in Elementary are accessing pornography – at home, at friends, and at school at times. Boys and girls are doing this. Their view of sexuality will be defined by the culture around them if Mom and Dad don’t provide an ongoing conversation of what is right, wrong, why, how, who, when, etc.

17) Our faith has implications on our use of technology. Don’t allow these two things to become disconnected. Not sure what this means? Ask.

18) Not everyone else is ‘doing it’ or ‘has it’. Facebook, cell phones, texting, etc. are not done by everyone. There are lots of kids who aren’t. Find a group of parents who are on the same page, make decisions together, and stick with it. There is power in numbers!

19) The world is different than when we were kids. Kids though are still kids. They do not need technology to play. Technology though, is a form of play. There is a balance in there somewhere.

20) Technology is expensive. There are low cost alternatives to each and every device. Parents don’t have to buy everything either for their kids.