You’re NOT Your Child’s Friend

And when it comes to parenting in the digital age, is the fact that, you know, it's really hard to keep up with everything that's out there. Once upon a time it was Facebook, and then came Instagram. And then and then I'm sure there are others that I'm missing along the way, right. And then there was Snapchat, and then you know, and the challenges for each one, are different. And so it's really important for you, as a parent to really educate yourself about social media that might come from just actually keeping some kind of a parental supervision app on your child's phone, or sitting down with your child kind of going through their phone each night. Right? There are different concerns.

For each I've had situations, unfortunately, you know, where,

with young girls specifically, where they sent an inappropriate picture to someone, a classmate or appear on an app where it's supposed to disappear, right within like a moment, or within 24 hours, or whatever the case is different apps different timeframes. And there was a screenshot that was taken, and that picture was circulated around to the whole school to the point where this child then had to be actually, you know, transferred to a different school because it was just, you know, it was detrimental. Right. And, you know, this is what I talked to the teens about when they come in for counseling, it's about saying, Look, I get it, like, this is fun, and everyone's doing it. But

at the same time, you know, with compassion, because this is sometimes where we go wrong, we get really scared. And I completely understand that because there is a lot to be worried about as a parent. But when you're functioning from a place of fear, you're going to be reacting really irrationally or really, you know, aggressively to things that otherwise, if you handled with compassion and kindness, with compassion, and kindness, could really work out a lot better, right? So, you know, when it comes to parenting your children across the board, no matter what the topic is, and especially in including working, you know, or dealing with the digital age and social media,

you want to have empathy, you want to have compassion towards your child, you want to say, Look, I get it, everyone's doing it. And everyone might be doing it. And I know that you want to do it, too. But I'm your parent. And I can really see the dangers that are out there. And so here are the parameters either you're not allowed to do it, right, and your parent and your child will not like you, right? It's not your job to be your child's best friend. It is your job to be your child's parent, right? Is your job to be a role model, it is your job to set boundaries when those boundaries are really hard, right? Like if your child is running to the stove, right and they're

starting to turn it on as a baby, you're gonna pull them away even if they cry, right because it's dangerous. If you're walking around in you know, a city at nighttime, when you're there as a tourist, you're not going to let your child roam free and run around, you're going to hold their hand even if they you don't, they don't want you to write even if they pregnancy you can't just run away from me. Right? And so those kinds of boundaries are true even in you know, household limitations that we put on social media.