OK, so your teen/pre-teen is stuck inside and may not make it to tomorrow if they do not get to talk to their friends ALL.DAY.LONG. What do you do?
While being on the computer and social media all day is not ideal, allowing your child to connect to his/her friends on a regular basis is very important to combat symptoms of anxiety and depression and as they mitigate these tough times. Here are a few tips that may help:
1. Make sure your teen is in on the conversation regarding their daily schedule. Rather than making rules limiting social media time (or video games), have them help you create a list of things to accomplish for the day. Remember, 'homeschool' is different than regular school and typically only needs to be an hour or 2 per day (not all day). So, some academic time/reading, basic chores, physical activity, fresh air, and some down time/relaxation time. Then pepper in the online/social media time off and on throughout the day.
2. It is still important to monitor what sites your teen is visiting and it is OK (more than OK) to have access to your teens passwords and social media accounts. Boredom and a lack of supervision may lead to poor choices so make sure your child knows he/she is still being supervised despite the extra time they are allowed to be online.
3. Just like with younger kids, use the internet to your benefit. Join your teen in exploring an online museum and talk about dream vacations, or use pinterest to find a project to do together.
4. It is still important to set a time at night when electronics are turned off and phones are handed over. Again, stick to similar sleep schedules and rules for how much your teen is allowed to isolate in his/her room. If each night you are able to plan something for your family to do, you are not taking social media away but rather having your teen do something fun and positive at home (e.g., play a game, do a puzzle, bake cookies together).
~Dr. Sam