While social media can be positive—it is also has negative impacts. Limiting screen time and communicating with the children about what they are doing online is a beneficial conversation to have. We can assure them that should they ever feel uncomfortable—-they can talk to us. We can also manage the content they are seeing to ensure what they are seeing is suitable for their age. Setting boundaries for the children in our lives is important but we don’t want to limit them entirely especially if social media is used as a way to communicate with their friends…making their account private, their age and how responsible they are can impact this decision. It is our job as the adults in their lives to maintain their safety and sometimes that comes with boundaries and limit setting.

That is a discussion that I definitely want to open up here. I don’t know what the right answer is, but I witness the same struggle happening with my younger cousins. And I agree there needs to be a balance when it comes to social media.

While social media can be positive—it is also has negative impacts. Limiting screen time and communicating with the children about what they are doing online is a beneficial conversation to have. We can assure them that should they ever feel uncomfortable—-they can talk to us. We can also manage the content they are seeing to ensure what they are seeing is suitable for their age. Setting boundaries for the children in our lives is important but we don’t want to limit them entirely especially if social media is used as a way to communicate with their friends…making their account private, their age and how responsible they are can impact this decision. It is our job as the adults in their lives to maintain their safety and sometimes that comes with boundaries and limit setting.

I think mental health is so important and should be advocated for regardless of how young or old. Some ways we can talk to children about mental health includes implementing daily affirmation, giving them breaks, having conversations about their day and helping them to recognize and regulate their emotions. We should also consider that sometimes children won’t want to have a conversation but we can provide them with alternative ways to share how they are feeling—-drawing a picture, or writing in a journal. The stigma behind mental health/illness is a real thing and by implementing and talking openly with children about these things—-we can hope that the stigma diminishes over time.

I think mental health is so important and should be advocated for regardless of how young or old. Some ways we can talk to children about mental health includes implementing daily affirmation, giving them breaks, having conversations about their day and helping them to recognize and regulate their emotions. We should also consider that sometimes children won’t want to have a conversation but we can provide them with alternative ways to share how they are feeling—-drawing a picture, or writing in a journal. The stigma behind mental health/illness is a real thing and by implementing and talking openly with children about these things—-we can hope that the stigma diminishes over time.

I think it’s okay when little kids use their tablets just for learning like playing games to learn their ABCs and stuff. Little kids shouldn’t be on social media at all. I don’t have kids but if I did I’d let them start having it at 12 years old but for a limited amount of time. I do think they should always have a phone though in case of emergency.

I definitely agree. There is such a stigma behind all of these. Children feel uncomfortable talking about this and by reshaping conversations and bringing awareness to it we can make it easier to talk about. One of the things we would like to focus on with FOW is the LGBTQ+ youth in the community.