Posted by Melissa Thompson

In today’s society, you almost can’t keep your kids and teens from wanting to be a part of social media. But while this is a part of life now, this is also a part of life that could be very harmful to your young children if you’re both not careful with how it’s used. Luckily, there are things you can do and teach to your children to help keep them safe as they learn how to use social media and integrate it into their young lives.

To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for keeping your kids safe while using social media. 

Share Your Concerns With Your Kids

While you are likely thinking about all the potential negatives that could come into your children’s lives by using social media, your child is likely thinking about all the positive possibilities they could now have with a social media profile. The trick here is to give your kids a bit of a reality check before you allow them to use these platforms.

To do this, talk with your kids about exactly what you’re nervous about with having them on social media. Share with them what they need to be careful with, what they need to be on the lookout for, and what some of the threats to them could potentially be. Hopefully with this knowledge, your child or teen will be more careful when they spend time on social media and will come to you when something appears amiss. 

Set Up Accounts Properly

Once you feel like your child should be allowed to spend time on social media, you should help them in setting up their profile so that all of the applicable safety settings are applied. 

For most social media platforms, you can set settings that make it so only the people they are friends with can speak with them or see their content. You can also help them with creating a strong password. Teach them the importance of a strong password and that they should only share the password with you so as to keep their account safe. 

Keep Time On Social Media Limited

While some kids will be mature enough to safely use social media, most kids, and even most adults, can easily get sucked into what they’re doing on social media and spend too much time on these platforms.

To keep this from happening to your kids, try your best to keep their time on social media, and screens, in general, limited. You can help to teach them this by setting a good example yourself. One good rule of thumb to follow could be not allowing them to use social media in their bedrooms as night before they go to sleep. 

If your kids or teens are wanting to get onto social media, consider using the tips mentioned above to help them stay safe on these platforms.