From Special Dispatch

This post is part of our “Big Talks” series—a guide to helping parents navigate the most important conversations they’ll have with their kids. Read more here.

It is one of the most universal of parenting fears, a necessary evil we cannot shield our kids from for long because we know they will have to live and work in this world as adults. I am talking, of course, about the internet. From the time they’re toddling around and trying to pry our own phones out of our hands, to their teenage days, when much of their social life happens online, we’ve got precious few years to teach our kids how to navigate the online world as safely as possible. 

Even before they’re old enough to be texting with friends, posting on social media, or gaming on servers with strangers around the world, it’s important to start modeling healthy tech use. The first thing to recognize with preschoolers, Heitner says, is that we are using technology in front of them all the time. They know we’re taking pictures and videos of them on our phones, they see us scrolling endlessly while they’re splashing in the bathtub, and they may even bring our phones to us when we leave them in another room because they know how important that device is.

Continued here