There are so many concerns of Internet usage today by our children that sometimes these concerns overshadow the awesome positives about the internet. Part of teaching our children how to use the internet appropriately is to guide our children to use the internet in positive and productive ways. Here are a few ways your children can benefit from the Internet:
- Connect: To connect with family and friends wherever they live in the world.
- Communicate: To stay in touch with teachers, to have questions answered and to ask questions, to discuss particular subjects, and share information.
- Access to the World: Connecting to the other side of the world is one click away at our child’s fingertips.
- Sharing Information
- Online study groups: Kids can connect with an online study partner or group.
- Learn a new language by speaking with someone directly from the country where the language is spoken via Skype.
- Personal learning Network (PLN): To organize a variety of relevant content sources, to help the student accomplish a professional goal or interest.
- Research: The internet has become a superhighway of information on just about any subject
- News: The latest news is accessible via the Internet.
- Creativity: Kids are developing writing skills and having fun doing it. To keep friends writing back kids have to be interesting, intelligent, relevant and funny.
- Online Education: Online courses are available on just about any subject a student might be interested in.
- Online educational games
- Online entertainment
All of these positives are wonderful and have opened up the world to our children. They also have some potential risk as well. Access to the world is awesome, but that one click could also put your child in harms way. Parents need to know what their children are doing online to keep them safe, and to teach responsible, appropriate use of the internet. This wide world of the internet exposes our children at a young age to so much information, some good and some truly harmful. Guidance online is imperative to lead our kids in the right direction.
What other ways can the internet be used constructively and productively by children? I’d love to hear from you.
