Parents should start pretty early on communicating about online behavior. Kids at a very, very young age, at this point, are being exposed to being online, so I think those conversations should start soon.
So a lot of times parents get really nervous about online behaviors, and I like to tell parents that whatever is happening online is typically happening in the real world. And usually, if we're having a problem online, it's because we're having a problem in the real world. So usually online behavior is just a symptom of maybe a bigger picture.
And so I think, in general, parents just need to be communicating with their children. And some of that is gonna be about safety online, and other things are just going to be about, who are the people that you like to hang out with? Who are you talking to online? What do you like to do for fun?
I just think it's so important for parents to be communicating in general with their children. And so if you want your kid or your teenager to come and talk to you, you really have to take a nonjudgmental and accepting stance. And so kids will do things that are extremely embarrassing, and I'm sure they're embarrassed about it. And so if we respond with a negative tone to them, they're not going to come to us.
And so as parents, if we're wanting kids to communicate with us, we have to come at them with a nonjudgmental stance. We have to know that, "Yes, we'll talk about this, and we'll talk about the safety concerns, but I'm here, and I'm just so glad that you came and you spoke to me about this."
