Social media is an awesome tool. I am on some type of social media for hours in a day. No I am not a slacker, it’s my job. Guess who else maybe on social media. Our children, yes, because my God-daughter is “grown” in age I give her a little space and we live in different cities now. So I am learning more about what she is doing through social media then our conversations. To me she is my sweet baby girl but on social media she can become someone totally different. Yes I am friends with a lot of my little people on facebook because it is easier to connect with them especially those that I have moved away from. I see a whole bunch of stuff and all of it is not positive or what I think they should be posting, liking, tweeting, and sharing. My timeline often becomes my prayer list.
Recently there has been some very dangerous “challenges” videos that has me very disturbed. They are popping up on my timeline because adults are blown away by the lack of common sense that our children are displaying. So with that said let us talk about solutions that could prevent these sorts of things from happening or getting out of control. I am going to put these questions out there and as parents let us answer them together.
- What where your thoughts when you first saw the videos of the “fire and pass out challenge”?
- Who did you place the blame on? The child, the parents, or social media?
- What would you have done if your child had been actively participating in one of these challenges?
- Have you talked to your child about these situations that are happening?
- Have you let your child watch the videos and looked at their reactions?
- If your child is too young to understand the challenges have you taken this awareness to talk about being a leader, peer pressure, and making their own decisions? (of course in a language they will understand) Or do you think this is not relevant to the younger ones (elementary down to four years old)
These are just a few questions that I was curious about when I gave thought to this awful situation that is taking over our social media youth. I really want to hear your thoughts and ideas. One thing this team can benefit from is the ideas and views of others. They are safe here, because after all we are imperfect parents. Comment below, tweet me, or let’s chat on facebook.
the parenting peace 