As we wrap up October and National Bullying Prevention Month, we’ll chat about spreading kindness online in this sponsored post written by me on behalf of Google and Forward Influence Network. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
We strive to teach our kids the importance of being kind each and every day and how even small acts of kindness can go a long way in making a difference for others. In today’s world especially, learning about spreading kindness online as well as offline is of utmost importance, considering how much screen time our kids have. Beyond the tried and true “Be kind,” and “Treat others like you would want to be treated” mantras which definitely work online just as they do in person, thankfully, us parents have some great resources to help us navigate helping our children be great digital citizens! Let’s encourage our children to #BeInternetAwesome!
Spreading Kindness Online: 7 Tips to Help Our Kids Be Internet Awesome!
- Talk with your kids! Have conversations as a family about Internet behavior and the difference between being a bystander vs an upstander (someone who helps the person being hurt).
- Model kindness. Promote positivity at home, school, and online.
- Make learning fun. Play Interland with your kids and put your kindness skills to the test in the Kind Kingdom!
- Send kind-grams. Encourage your kids to write gratitude emails to friends or families. Or perhaps they can send a kind e-card or gif with a brief note of encouragement to someone going through a rough time.
- IRL=Online. Remind your family that behind every username/avatar, there?s a real person with real feelings.
- Encourage empathy. Ask your children to think about how they would feel if they were to experience cyber-bullying.
- Spread the word. Learn more about how to Be Internet Awesome and tell your kids’ teachers about Google’s online curriculum so they can introduce these activities in their classroom.
Consider this: 28% of students have experienced bullying personally and 71% have witnessed bullying directly, yet only 20-30% of students notify adults about bullying. (According to stopbullying.gov.) Perhaps through more open conversations, programs like Google’s Be Internet Awesome, and making spreading kindness online a family affair, we can change these statistics for the better.
How can spreading kindness online let our children know that #ItsCoolToBeKind?
All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Google and Forward Influence Network. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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