How to Teach your Kids to be Internet Awesome

Last Updated on July 6, 2022 by Michele Tripple

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Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

The other day I was on Facebook scrolling through my feed when all of a sudden something caught my eye.

One of my friends had posted an experience her daughter had at school that day about an anonymous message she received from a new social media app basically saying that she was ugly and she wished she would die.

My heart stopped as I read this. My friend’s daughter is beautiful inside and out and it crushed me to know that this was happening.

Cyberbullying is the #1 online safety concern in the classroom among teachers. In fact, 28% of all kids have personally experienced bullying, while 71% have seen bullying happening. With these astounding stats, you will be shocked to know that only 20-30% of students tell adults when they see bullying happening, but yet over 50% of parents are concerned that their child might be bullied.

With these stats, it is time for us to ban together and teach our kids It’s Cool to be Kind, as a digital citizen as well as in real life. It’s time to start treating others how we wish we were treated. How we treat others online will make the digital world a better place now and for generations to come, not to mention our offline world too!

So we are going to share with you 5 Ways to Teach Your Kids to Be Internet Awesome!

Let’s throw kindness around like confetti on the Internet!

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

How to Be Internet Awesome

Google has created an amazing multifaceted program to help teach kids how to be great digital citizens and safety so they can be online with confidence called Be Internet Awesome. This is available in both English and Spanish.

Be Smart

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

Communicate responsibly online.

Teach your kids to be smart online. This means thinking twice before they post a picture or a comment on social media. Teach them that once it is out there it is really hard to get it back. Their online presence is a direct reflection of who they are, so it is so important to make good decisions when it comes to communicating with others online.

Remind them that sometimes it is best to not communicate at all or perhaps it is better to communicate face-to-face with someone than to text them right away.

Be Alert

Identify phishing, scams, and non-credible sources online.

Help your kids to realize that the Internet is not all sunshine and roses. Teach them to look for email scams trying to get information from them to have access to email accounts, credit information, social security numbers, and other valuable information.

Not only that, but teach them the newest YouTube Star might not be the most credible source. Teach them how to find credible sources to evaluate what is the truth and what is not.

Be Strong

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

Protect your personal information.

Being Internet strong goes hand in hand with being alert. Teach your kids to protect and not give out their personal information.

Be Kind

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

Be kind and positive online.

Being kind and positive online goes a long way when it comes to being Internet kind. I love the family guide to help me teach my kids to be kind as well as this fun interactive game Interland.

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

These two resources help me lay a strong foundation for helping my kids learn to be safe, smart, and positive online, as well as kind. Of course, having an open heartfelt conversation with your kids is the best way to teach them to be smart, safe, and kind online.

One of the best things you can do is to set clear expectations for your kids on appropriate behaviors and actions that are okay and not okay. Remind them this is in ALL forms of DIGITAL such as Air dropping, texting, sending pictures, direct messaging, posts, comments, videos, even disappearing anonymous messages.

Remind them behind every username and avatar is a real person just like them and we should treat them exactly how they want to be treated.

Be Brave

When in doubt about anything online, talk it out with an adult.

I always tell my kids be brave enough to make a difference. There are so many ways to be brave online and in real life.

I tell my kids all the time, the Internet is a powerful tool, are you going to use it for good, or for something bad? It helps them remember to think before they post.

Teach Your Kids what to do about Bullying

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

A few months ago I had a talk with my kids, we talked about bullying and what that meant. They realized that bullying can happen anywhere and it can be done in small subtle ways and in big ways. We talked about that there are usually 4 types of people when it comes to bullying.

Types of People When it Comes to Bullying.

Aggressor- The person or people bullying

Victim- The person being bullied

Bystander- The person watching the bullying happening

Upstander- The person that sees the bullying and positively acts and helps the situation.

We talked about if we are a bystander how to become an upstander such as

  • Find a way to support the victim
  • Call out the negative bully behavior
  • Do not help the aggressor by spread the message and make the bullying worse
  • Gather with friends to “pile on kindness” to the victim.
  • Report it. Tell someone. A teacher, a parent, an adult and report it.

By teaching our kids to be Internet Kind it can go a long way not only in the digital world but in the real world!

Now it’s Your Turn!

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

Now it’s our turn to show our kids to be Internet kind, by being the example online and in person! Throw kindness around like confetti!

Within the next 48 hours do an act of kindness online and share with us in the comments what you do and be Internet Awesome!

Some Ideas for Internet kindness are:

  • Send a text to someone you are thinking about
  • Comment on a post!
  • Like a comment
  • Reconnect with an old friend
  • Stand up for someone who is being shamed online
  • Be an upstander
  • Help your kids spread kindness online with Kind Kingdom
  • The possibilities are endless!

As we all be Internet Awesome and teach our kids to be Internet Awesome we can change the digital world and real-life and make it a more positive place for our kids!

Share on Pinterest with others how to Teach our Kids how to Be Internet Awesome!

Teaching our kids to be Internet awesome is so important especially with cyberbullying being the number 1 concern in classrooms across the country.

28 thoughts on “How to Teach your Kids to be Internet Awesome”

  1. I love Google’s new Be Internet Awesome initiative because it’s needed more than ever. My heart just broke with your opening story. I know parents are “aware” of what’s happening but we really need to start doing something about it. Educating our kids and modeling I think are so important. I’m with you on spreading kindness like confetti! Let’s ban together to stop the trolls and hate 😉

    Reply
    • I totally agree! Being internet awesome is something that is so important to instill in our children in our world of technolgy.

      Reply
  2. This is so important. It’s definitely hard to teach your child about cyber security when new things pop up everyday. We definitely attend our districts meeting for cyber security meeting.

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    • It really is challenging to keep up with! Technology is a wonderful thing, but we need to teach our kids how to be internet awesome so they can be the ones to spread kindness!

      Reply
    • It will be interesting how things change! Being internet awesome will always be needed for sure though. Teaching our kids how to be kind is a vital skill.

      Reply
  3. The internet is a part of our kids lives, we can’t hide away from it. The best thing is to educate our kids about how to be online safely!!

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    • I totally agree with this statement so much! Teaching our kids how to navigate technology and educating them is really the only way to help them succeed online. We need to give them the tools to be internety awesome!

      Reply
  4. Love love love your list. I think its important for kids to learn this, it will serve them well in the future. I wish more adults followed this because the internet has become a lawless cesspool of negativity and bullying.

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    • Yes. There are definitely a lot of people on the internet that do not spread kindness. That’s why it’s so important to instill in our children how to be internet awesome!

      Reply
  5. I love these tips. This is such a hot topic now and it’s so hard to imagine how to teach these things to our kids when we were never really taught them growing up since tech has grown so mcuh

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  6. Every year my school district hosts an informational event with a police officer and cyber security specialist who talks about how parents can help their kids be safe on the internet. It’s an eye opening. My daughter is 8 without a phone and her usage is supervised heavily. But I know once she becomes a teenager things will change. It’s good to stay on top of these things.

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    • I love that your school addresses cyber security! My son’s have also gone through a similar program in Boy Scouts and I love that they are being taught how to be internet awesome by being kind.

      Reply
  7. I genuinely have no desire to let my kids have access to social media. Thankfully, they have no interest in it yet. At fourteen I can’t imagine how hard it is to navigate all of these mean internet folks.

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    • I totally agree. It’s a challenging world to navigate as an adult, so giving our kids access to social media can be scary. Teaching our kids how to navigate technology and be internet awesome is so important!

      Reply
  8. I love this! Yes, we need to teach our kids all of these lessons. Especially the being kind one!!! I can’t believe how rude and horrible some people can be online!

    Reply

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