Parents will sometimes get the feeling that their kids know more about the Internet and the digital life than them. While that may be true at times, there are a lot of things about this “new world” that parents and children need to navigate together. Being tech savvy doesn’t always mean they know everything that needs to be understood. That’s why Google is bringing this new “Be Internet Awesome” workshop which already includes a Pixelbook to “help kids be safe and positive online” and to help their parents guide them.
Each kit for the workshop, which parents can do on their own or schools can also initiate for their students, includes a Google Pixelbook so that you actually have a gadget that you can use so you can learn together. The presentation that you will go through was developed by Google and the Family Online Safety Insitute and covers a wide array of topics about online life, like safety, digital citizenship, etc.
The workshop also includes resources that both parents and kids can use to create a “positive digital experience” for their whole family. There are also Family Guides to teach both adults and young ones about things like online reputation, phishing and scams, cyberbullying, and other issues that come up now due to online culture. It’s important that parents understand these things to be able to guide their kids into the more tricky and sometimes ambiguous situations.
The kit also includes posters for the school that promote the idea of being “Internet Awesome” by being “smart, alert, strong, brave, and kind.” A school also gets a participation banner if they join this Google-initiated program. Google has also partnered with the National PTA to give grants worth $1,000 to local PTAs so they can facilitate these Be Internet Awesome workshops in their respective schools.
There are a lot of resources that you can also access online even if you don’t have a Be Internet Awesome kit. There is even an interactive game that kids can play called Interland which also gives teaches them all about the principles of digital citizenship.
SOURCE: Google
