Educating your child about taking care of themselves is what all good parents do. You also teach your kid how best to interact with the world and things around them. One area that is sometimes overlooked is car-safety. We will look at what you should tell your children about cars. We shall also explore how you can prepare your car to be safe for your kids.

Remembering to check your car for recalls and other simple things may make a world of difference in keeping your little ones as safe as possible. 

Things Your Kids Should Know About Cars

You don’t have to be an expert yourself to teach basic car maintenance. Many tips can be found online on websites like YouTube. Step by step guides can show you what to do without you having to be a master mechanic. You can then teach the most basic of these tasks to your kids.

1. Basic Maintenance

What you teach your child can include:

    • Checking and filling up the vehicle’s fluid

    • Adding oxygen to the tires

    • Reading the fuel gauge and speedometer

    • How to replace filters

    • Replacing the headlights

    • How to check on and change the car oil

    • How to change a flat tire, even on your own

These simple maintenance tasks will give your kid a life skill they’ll take into adulthood. But the real cherry on top is the great bonding experience you’ll develop as you interact with your child in this way.

2. Identifying Emergency Vehicles

Telling your kids how to identify emergency vehicles is another good piece of information.  When a police car’s siren blares, it’s a good idea to tell your kids what to do when the police need to drive past. 

You can also tell them about other important vehicles like ambulances, fire trucks, and armored vehicles. You can find ways to teach your kids in a fun and interactive way. If you turn teaching moments into games, the lessons are likely to stick. 

This is also a great time to teach them about emergency procedures. You can tell them that they are supposed to keep to the pavement for a firetruck and dial 911 for accidents and if they are hurt. It may seem frivolous but these lessons are invaluable for your kid’s well-being.

3. Teach Children about Cars & Money

You can use your car to also impart the value of money to your kids. Matters that you can explore with them include: 

     • Fees such as car payments 

    • Maintenance costs

    • Tickets and fines

    • Insurance premiums

Even adolescents may need these lessons. Not all adults are financially literate or responsible. Many grown-ups themselves struggle to understand the value of money.  As for insurance premiums, it may be better to start them off as part of your insurance plan. Most companies allow your children to be part of the parent’s policy for as long as you want.

It’s important to teach all of these aspects to kids from a young, impressionable age. If your child can learn to manage their finances they can be equipped to manage the costs associated with maintaining a car later in life. A well-maintained car is basically a safe one.

4. Dangers of Driving

Children and teens are shockingly almost twice as likely to be in a fatal crash than young adults aged 19-25. This can be related to an insufficient use of car seats, seat belts, and whether younger kids are sitting in the back seat or front.

Statistically, teenagers are the most likely to be involved in a car accident.  Once they are old enough to drive, teaching them about the dangers and how to drive with care and caution can save their lives. 

5. Rules of the Road

Beyond telling your kids how to safely cross a road, you may wish to inform of them of other rules of the road. This includes teaching them what drivers should and shouldn’t do while driving.

There are road rules to do with traffic signals and driving carefully. Explain the importance of obeying road rules so that every road user is safe. Inform them of certain rules regardless of their age. 

This can help you abate the fears or concerns you may have for when they have full control of their own cars. Also, advise on “outside of the square” tips like whose car they are allowed to ride in (if you are not around), or what to do whenever they feel unsafe as a passenger.

Preparing Your Car for Your Kids

Just as we make our homes safe for our children, we also need to take some time to do the same with our cars.

Get the Right Car Seat

Before you get a car seat, consider doing an online search of what’s out there and what would be best for your child. One basic rule is that the best car seat for your child is the one that fits. That is, the car seat should fit your child, your car, and install correctly into place.

Wear a Seat-Belt

It is against the law for minors not to be strapped in their seat belt. Though sometimes easy to forget, this is a crucial way of ensuring your child’s safety every time they are commuting. It is crucial to teach them the necessity of staying buckled up. Seatbelts have been proven to prevent severe injuries and save countless lives. 

Distracted Driving

This one is a major cause of car accidents. You should teach your kids how to avoid or manage distractions. For example, instruct your kids to never throw objects in the car to each other or at you.  

They shouldn’t distract you or block your vision. Of course, calm and normal conversations can occur between drivers and passengers. However, causing agitation in any way can be a dangerous distraction.  Emphasize how important it is for drivers to focus while driving. 

Moving Objects

 Apart from ensuring your child does not throw objects in the car, it is worth considering whatever objects you have in the car, especially on the dashboard. In the event of an accident, these objects may become projectiles and cause injury to those in the car. 

Find a secure place to store toys in your car to avoid such incidents. Secure other items in your car that could also move around and become a hazard. In some cases, it would be safer to store these items in the trunk of your car. 

Maintenance and Routine Checks

Sometimes cars are recalled. Check your car for recalls to ensure you have a vehicle that keeps you and your children safe. Just like with regular health checks for yourself, servicing your car regularly is necessary. 

Ensure you keep a handle on all the basics like good tire pressure, reasonable oil levels, and window washer fluid. Keeping a schedule for maintenance can promote the longevity of your car. 

Entertainment

Whether it’s music that your kids enjoy, or books, games, or movies; our child will appreciate having entertainment on car drives. This would help your mood on long road trips and since your child is occupied, you can concentrate on driving. This all contributes to road and passenger safety.  

Car Care and Good Driving Habits

Taking conscious steps to teach your child about cars is invaluable. Going further to prepare your car to be safe for them is equally so. Following the tips in this article may not only save your kids’ lives but also equip them with the knowledge they need to drive safely when they are able to do so.  You may also want to consider the parental control app that monitors driving habits so you can provide provide ongoing training.

Everywhere you look someone is telling you to get ready to go back to school. Stores are urging you to come get your supplies and new clothes. Parents are reminding you to get your bus passes and clean out your closet. Websites post lists for you to read through and check off before the first day of class.

This list is different.

This is the back to school list just for kids.

1) Did you do everything that you wanted to do this summer?

Think back to before summer break. Is there an activity you planned on doing? Is there a hobby you wanted to spend more time on? How about a friend you wanted to see during the holidays? Did you hope to arrange a treasure hunt or put new wheels on your skateboard?

Think hard—then act. There is still time to take care of that one great idea.

2) You’ve grown up a little over the summer—so should your personal space.

Take a minute and think about your room, your desk and even the posters on your wall. Go through your clothes and try them on. Jeans and shirts that don’t fit should go in a pile to give to your Mom or Dad. Do the same with your action figures, your posters, the cool stuff you have on your desk.

Looking through your personal space and seeing what “doesn’t fit anymore” will show you how much a life can change in a couple short months.

3) Now, do some house cleaning on your social media.

Many people–and that includes kids–are going through their settings. They are cutting out “friends” from the people they really know from actual flesh-and-blood life. Many recommend taking a good, long look at these social media tips, including your privacy settings.

Make sure that when you post a personal detail, only real human beings that you know can see what you’ve written. A good rule of thumb is: Would you feel okay hanging alone in your room with this person? If the answer is, “Geez, I dunno,” then think hard about giving that person a look inside your life.

4) Relax.

School is a phase of life that takes you into the future. You’ll be going to classes that don’t seem to make sense and doing homework that doesn’t seem to have any purpose.

For some of you, people might be asking you about college or university and great future plans. The best thing for you to do before you walk into that big crowded building is to just relax. Do your best and the rest will come.

Parents learn how to prepare kids for their first day or school

5 ‘New School Year’ Resolutions

Everyone makes promises to themselves at New Year. They “resolve” to be nicer, eat better, work harder and not spend so much time on social media. New School Year Resolutions make more sense. January 1 is just a day, but when you start a new school year, you begin a new journey that will impact the rest of your life.

Your school days this year are totally different than last school year. You will learn new things. You will meet new people. And you are a new person. As you go back to school you are older and know more than you did when you started school last year. To see how much of a difference a school year can make, look at the pictures on your phone or your social media pages. How are you different? Has your music changed? The movies you like? What about your friends? Have they changed?

Ask yourself these questions. Then think about the new school year. You will be different when it is over. Make a resolution that lets you decide how different you could be! Think about these resolutions:

1. Resolve to Spend More Time In Real Life.

Too many kids—and adults—spend big parts of their days online. The Internet is fun and can bring people together but having fun and hanging out with people in real time is better. You can see them, touch them, share real life. Also, people tend to be nicer when they look into each other’s eyes.

2. Resolve to Work Towards My Goals.

You want to be an astronaut? Then pay extra attention in science class. Want to be a pop star? Be sure to practice your guitar or piano. Are you going to be a police officer? Maybe ask a teacher to bring an officer to school so that you can ask questions.

3. Resolve to Never Post On Social Media When You Get Mad.

As we learned in a previous article, posting on social when mad can be just as bad as when other people do wrong things that made you mad, or even hurt you, in the first place. If you need help learning how to control your anger, it will save you from getting into a lot of trouble.

4. Resolve to Be More Grown-Up.

All kids want to be respected and treated like a grown-up. Think about how to earn that respect and treatment. Maybe pick a chore and always do it, like taking out the garbage or vacuuming the living room. Always do what you say you are going to do. Be respectful and get respect back. Even if you know adults that act like children, you can be better than that.

5. Resolve to Be a Kid.

Yes, you are growing up and starting a whole new year of school, but you are still a kid. Enjoy it. Play basketball. Make a backyard fort. Hang out with your friends and make new ones. Wear silly tee-shirts. Play hide and seek in the park. You want to be grown-up and you will. When you are an adult you will not be able to do many of the fun things you do as a kid. Do them now.

A now, a word for Teachers.  Read about why some kids love school!

Selecting an easy to remember password seems like a simple enough thing to do. But when it comes to protecting your online accounts, there are a few important things to consider before you lock in that special password that is all your own and unique to you.

Is your password secure enough? Are you using the same password across multiple accounts? What if someone hacks into a database and learns your password and email address?

Whether it be on social media, cloud backup or a password to your bank account, keeping track of passwords is a hassle. Still, passwords remain to be out first defense against an invasion of privacy that can affect our safety both on and offline. Until fingerprint technology or facial recognition becomes the norm, we all need to learn and develop good password management habits.

Learning Password Management at School

Password management can be an excellent point of discussion that is catered to students of any age that are already choosing their own passwords for their various social media accounts. Here are a few guidelines and tips that can also be used for parents at home, who in many cases are already helping their kids choose passwords for transparency at home and for online protection.

1. The importance of forming a strong password comes before anything else

Make sure your password contains capital letters, numbers, as well as special symbols. Also, do your best to make sure passwords are at least a certain length. These types of passwords may be difficult to remember immediately, so write them down and keep it on a piece of paper at home. Many online accounts save the password on your computer or smart phone app and it may be a while before you have to enter it in again.

If you fail to memorize your password and you didn’t write it down, you can create a new by clicking “forget password”, which will send a password resent link to your email.

2. The dangers of entering one’s password on a public computer

The problem with public computers is that you never know what might be lurking in the shadows. Unless you happen to be the administrator, which you probably aren’t. There might be all sorts of malware hidden in there, including the one that can spy on keystrokes.

Even assuming the computer is clean, there’s always a danger. After all, humans are on the forgetful side of the scale. In other words, your can easily forget to log out of your account and grant full control to the next random person who comes by. Not an ideal situation. Plus, you never know who’s standing behind your back when you enter your password in public.

When using your own phone or computer in a public place, be wary of logging into an account when connected to a public Wi-Fi that does not require users to identity themselves.

3. The problem of trading security for convenience and the reasons why it’s discouraged

Too many people fall into the convenience trap. They start reusing the same password across different websites for the sake of keeping things easy to remember. An additional way to increase security is to learn more about the importance of using a password manager. Thanks to its functionality, users keep the convenience of not having to remember too much. They enable creating different passwords for each account while only having to memorize the master password to access the rest.

Longer is Stronger!

According to CISA, America’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, passwords should be longer than 16 characters. 

Enhance your password security by doing the following:

• Make your passwords long, unique, and complex.
• Don’t use the same password on multiple platforms.
• Use a Password Manager to store all your passwords. This will mean you to only remember one password to access all of your other passwords.

Read about a world with no passwords:  The Future of Biometric Security

Learning Password Management at Home

Often, kids can be more tech-savvy than their parents. But even as a parent you can take the initiative to protect your family with security basics, and beyond, that are often overlooked by those who feel they are already up-to-date on the latest in online safety.

Let’s also not forget that technology is always evolving. Hackers are continually coming up with new ways to gain unlawful access to private databases and accounts. What was good practice for protecting privacy two years ago may not be the best way to go about it today.

1. Remote data wiping technology

Even if you do everything right cybersecurity-wise, what’s stopping you from misplacing or losing your device? Many people tend to be forgetful. So, if you’re not sure where your phone is (especially if you suspect someone has snatched it right out of your pocket), deleting your data before it gets into the wrong hands is a wise course of action. Remote data wiping technology is an insurance policy in this regard.

If you have important information you want to save, you’ll want to set up some sort of online back-up to a cloud account. This way you can easily restore your device if you wipe it clean. Of course, make sure your online back-up account also has a strong password.

2. Two-factor authentication

Malware programs can steal your passwords right from under your nose. With two-factor authentication you can greatly increase protection of your accounts. Two-factor authentication asks anyone logging in to perform an extra step (like entering a PIN from a confirmation SMS) before granting access an account. It can restrict access in case of a data breach or stolen password.

3. Password variations that use the same core are a terrible idea

Never underestimate the creative mind of a hacker. If they can get close to guessing your second password based on another, it won’t take long before they succeed. Randomly generated passwords are a much better idea than different variations of the same password.

4. Personally identifiable information is a no-no

Let’s put it this way. The street where you live, as well as your birthday, are all facts that can be available to anyone. Anyone willing to go to great lengths to get them, that is. Therefore, you should avoid constructing passwords around publicly identifiable information.

5. The importance of changing your passwords often

Changing your passwords regularly is a good cybersecurity practice. But it also tends to be forgotten, especially when many accounts do not require changing your password regularly. Again, with a password manager, having to remember a whole new batch of passwords becomes a non-issue.

No matter your age or expertise, the creation of a good strong password is often taken for granted. Whether it’s a social media account, a website for online shopping, your online banking access – or an app on your phone, each one of your accounts is an online profile of you that’s worth protecting in as many ways that are available.

If you think a password you have used online has been compromised, it may be due to clicking a link in a phishing email.  Learn what you can do to protect yourself as well as how to report phishing when it happens to you.

There are many blogs, posts and studies about the impact of social media on teenagers and young children. It’s been proven time and time again that social media use among children can be harmful to their emotional and mental health.

However, these posts often ignore another social media phenomenon that can be harmful: sharenting, or the practice of parents sharing their children’s information, photos and videos online.

Sharenting specifically refers to parents of school-aged children, who share photos or videos of their children on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Though it can be tempting to share fun photos of your kids, there are many safety considerations to think about before hitting send.

Risks of Sharenting

Many kids have a social media presence before they are old enough to be aware of social media at all. Before deciding to post their child on social media, parents should consider the potential risks that come with doing so.

Safety

The Internet is a big — and sometimes dangerous — place. Even when parents have privacy settings or safety measures in place, there isn’t always a guarantee that photos and data are truly private. Posting a child’s photo can pose a potential risk to their privacy and safety, and create a cyber footprint for the child before they are old enough to have an online presence.

Bullying

School can be a hard place for kids, who may at some point experience bullying. Posting photos or videos of children online, especially ones that are potentially embarrassing, can feed these bullies in school or in the community. Posting a child’s image online opens them up to judgement from strangers and friends alike.

Embarrassment

Everyone knows the embarrassment of being tagged in a photo they don’t like — the same philosophy applies to posting photos or videos of children. Though you might think your child looks cute with food all over their face or doing a silly dance, they might be embarrassed to see that content online. It’s a best practice to ask your child whether they consent to having the image posted before uploading it.

In a recent survey conducted by Bestow, however, the majority of Americans didn’t think it was necessary to ask children for permission before posting their photo. In reality, asking permission before posting is a good practice to ensure the child feels supported and avoids feelings of embarrassment or shame.

Permanence

The old adage that nothing posted on the Internet is ever fully deleted rings true. Though bath time photos or silly pictures of food-splattered faces may be cute in the moment, it’s worth considering that these images could potentially follow your child throughout their life.

Best Practices for Parents Online

Of course, parents will sometimes want to post pictures of their children to brag or celebrate. There are certain ways to do so safely.

Avoid Posting Location or Other Private Details

If you’re posting a photo of your child — especially on public platforms — it’s best to avoid including private details that could possibly lead strangers or predators to your location. Don’t include geotags or identifying buildings, street signs or landmarks that could identify where you live.

Ask Your Child What They Think

If you’re unsure whether your child will approve of a funny photo or personal video you want to post of them, just ask! Avoid potentially embarrassing or upsetting your child by getting their permission to post them on your social media. This will make your child feel more supported and independent while also helping them curate their own online footprint.

Consider the Future

Before hitting send, remember that you’re posting something that could potentially follow your child throughout their lives. Avoid posting nude, inappropriate or embarrassing content that your child may be embarrassed about when they grow up.