Notes from Millie D

I don’t normally share stories about my home life but this one connects to my professional life and it got me thinking.

I would like to think that I’m a capable and caring parent.  I’m always looking out for the best interests when it comes to my children.  I sacrifice personal needs/wants at times for those of my children.  My wife and I feel like we’re instilling a strong sense of values and morals to carry them throughout their life.  Our oldest daughter seems to have a good head on her shoulders, a sense of personal responsibility, and knows the difference between right and wrong.  Sometimes you take things for granted because they’re still young and think they wouldn’t encounter dangerous situations before you could prepare them for it.  Tonight that changed for me as my oldest daughter (who is the primary grades) told me about how she gave her webkinz password to a friend so he would add something to her account.

She didn’t think it was a problem giving a classmate her password, dad on the other hand was going ballistic inside.  I calmly sat her down and we talked about private information versus public information and what is okay to share with friends and what is not and other things around being safe when one is on the Internet.  She quickly picked up my vibe and asked good questions, in between sobbing stretches (she is a sensitive one).  In the end we came to an understanding about being safe online but still have fun, change the password, and how to handle the questions she might get from her friend at school. I tried to use this as a learning experience for her but it also became a learning experience for me.

This has made me think about online safety through a new lens, not through my teacher’s lens but through my parent one.  Should basic online safety be taught in conjunction with personal safety (don’t talk to strangers, 911 in an emergency, etc.)?  If you want your child to be part of the global society then yes!  There are so many good resources out there to help those who might not know where to start.  Personally I would like to see resources available for parents at pediatrician offices right next to other parenting resources.  Unfortunately (as a society) we need to do this kind of work to protect the innocence of youth.

More and more social networking opportunities are being pushed down to children at younger ages like club penguin and webkinz.  Even Disney has gotten into the fray.  As more and more opportunities are being presented to children, the time to lay down the foundation of safety and security while online is necessary.  The lesson that I’ve learned is the very first time you create an online persona for your child, no matter the age or the type of exposure, your role as a parent should be to have the conversation about online safety and keep reminding your child about it as new things come down the pipeline.  This small act of prevention now can save you a lot when you child is older facing similar situations when the potential dangers are greater and more dangerous.

Something a friend of mine told me that I recalled after talking to my daughter, “It is better to make mistakes early on in life and learn from them than it is later on in life.”  This is so true in this case.  The same kind of mistake 10 years from now for my daughter might result in a bigger, messier situation for our family.  I’m just glad my daughter has the ability to learn from her mistakes.

Looking at the situation through the teacher’s lens I’ll be approaching this grade level a little differently.  I’ll start my online safety unit a little younger than I had done in the past to help keep our children safe but still find value and fun to their Internet experiences.