(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-12-14 19:24

Moderator: Have you ever met a student or young people that are already addicted to the Internet?

Mrs Leavitt: Yes. Usually, though, it's a family member who's at a presentation and will ask about it, because a person who has this difficulty keeps it, usually, to themselves. It's up to a parent, particularly, to be mindful and to bring it to attention and address it. Don't enable the problem by saying, oh, he just wanted to miss school today. It's not a problem. Address the problem; address the concern.

Mrs Leavitt: And we give steps to help parents engage and address the issue so that they can encourage their child to be involved in other activities besides being online.

Moderator: What are the concrete measures or suggestions for parents?

Mrs Leavitt: As I mentioned, address the issue with your child. Prevention can help – setting time limits. But the first step would be: address the issue.

Mrs Leavitt: Start by showing you care. Say, I am talking to you about this because I love you, I'm concerned. So, let them know you care.

Mrs Leavitt: Support. Don't enable. That means, support them doing other kinds of activities if they like soccer, theater, baseball. Support, don't enable and say, it's all right, I won't worry about this.

Mrs Leavitt: I mentioned encourage other activities. That is important; to encourage them that way.

Mrs Leavitt: Make sure your home computer is in a visible place so you know how long your child is spending on the computer.

Mrs Leavitt: And for a parent, become computer savvy. Or learn about computers. Ask your child; take a course. You need to know how to check your computer history and some things about computers.

Mrs Leavitt: And finally, use outside resources if you need to. Talk to a school counselor, get a family counselor, to help you face this issue if it really does continue to escalate.

Moderator: And visit I Keep Safe?

Mrs Leavitt: Oh yes, and come to the website, because we have what is called "Parent Tutorials." They are in English right now, but these tutorials go through step by step helps for parents so they can understand technology.

Moderator: Do you have a kind of one to one tutorship?

Mrs Leavitt: It isn't a one to one tutorship, but it is a tutorial that a parent can click on and go as fast or as slow as they want; they can take it at their own pace.

Mrs Leavitt: We call them "family online activities" for a parent and a child to do together. You can share that experience.

Mrs Leavitt: There might be one issue a parent is concerned about, and they can look up that special issue. There is an area for students, an area for parents, and an area for educators.

   1 2 3 4 5   

   1 2 3 4 5