One of the difficult things to navigate as parents of today’s youth is the internet— especially social media. We see different parenting styles when it comes to guiding our kids to the internet. Some restrict their kids’ screen time, install an internet firewall, let their kids navigate on their own, and some don’t even give their children phones until a certain age. (See also: teaching our kids about body consent.)

So how do we guide while protecting?

The thing is, in this day and age, we cannot prevent our children from being part of the digital world. It’s inevitable. And parents’ fears are understandable because of how inauthentic, dangerous, and influential the online world can be. So it’s important to guide our children as they go online.

Because of this, Jamie and Katie want to provide parents the practical tools to communicate with their kids in a way that empowers them and not threatens them. Because restricting our kids won’t work; it will only urge them to put up a wall against us and discreetly do things on their own. It’s also counter-productive when they see us scrolling our phones and social media, then tell them that it’s ‘bad.’

Above all, as we guide them online, we have to build a better connection with our kids. Because the family is the most ‘human’ social interaction our kids have— someone they can hear, touch, smell, feel. So it’s important that they feel safe coming to us, in a world where being “social” is filtered, and at the same time, cruel. So we have to give them a space where they can be human. Where they can (safely) share anything, and be vulnerable.

“Operate with your kids not with threat, but with respect.” – Jami & Katie

Join me, Jami and Katie, for another trio chat! In this episode, we discuss how we can teach our kids to be critical of what they see online, instead of numbly consuming it.

Other life-changing lessons in this episode…

• Connecting and engaging with our kids
• The importance of figuring out if an action is done out of love or fear
• Teaching our kids to process the ‘filtered’ social media
• How to harmoniously communicate boundaries
• Protecting our kids’ minds from harmful influence/threats

We don’t want to be that helicopter parent who frequently hovers our kids. We want to be able to trust them. That’s why it’s important to empower our kids so that they can make the right choices on their own.

In addition, today’s parents are the first generation of parents to raise kids in the digital age. We are pioneers. And pioneers make mistakes. So it’s important that we equip ourselves with tools while giving ourselves the grace to learn and make mistakes.

Go check out Jami and Katie’s course on how we can better communicate with our children, and guide them (no matter what age) to social media! —> renaefieck.com/socialkids

Meet Jami and Katie

Jami Amerine and Katie M. Reid are friends, authors, speakers, out-of-the-box thinkers, and mamas of many children (eleven in all, ranging in age from 4 to 25). They are adoptive mamas too, both with master’s degrees in education, and teach others how to experience more freedom, peace, and joy by changing the way you think. After a year of practicing their Change Your Mind methods, they were stunned by the results. They are firm believers in their motto: “Change your mind, change everything.” Jami and Katie are also the co-creators of SocialWised U, a revolutionary e-course to help families navigate the online world with peace instead of panic.

Jami on TikTok: @lifeofjami

Katie on TikTok: @katie.m.reid

Jami on Facebook: Jami Amerine Sacred Ground, Sticky Floors

Katie on Facebook: Katie M. Reid

Jami on Instagram: @jamiamerine

Katie on Instagram: katie_m_reid

SocialWisedU.org: Change Your Mind, Change Everything