Managing media in middle childhood (6-9 years old)

Helping Kids Build Safe and Smart Digital Habits

Parents can focus on helping kids this age explore safely by choosing high-quality experiences, setting clear boundaries, and teaching them how to recognize when something feels off.

There are four main strategies to help kids become resilient to online risks. We can:

Curate our kids’ media experiences;

Control who can access our kids and their data;

Co-view media with our kids;

and be our kids’ media Coaches.

Excessive Internet Use - Overview

We don’t always hear the clock ticking when we’re online, and young people are no exception. Between doing research for homework, talking with friends, updating social media and playing games, it’s easy to see how kids and teens might lose track of time.

Communicating Safely Online: Tip Sheet for Parents and Trusted Adults

Most of the time, young people use digital tools like smartphones and platforms or games and social networks to communicate with friends and family. Teens may also use online spaces to find support, community and mentorship. All of these are healthy ways to use technology, but it’s important for them to know that some online relationships are unhealthy.

Safer Internet Day

February 10th is Safer Internet Day, an event sponsored by Insafe to promote safe and responsible online behaviour. As the Internet becomes a more and more central part of our lives, we are coming to a better understanding of just what risks and opportunities it provides. We are learning, for instance, that youth are less likely to be victimized by adult strangers than by other youth, whether it is in the form of sexual solicitation or online harassment: a recent study by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, prepared for the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking of State Attorneys General of the United States, supports other recent research in finding that it is the particular behaviours that some youth consciously engage in that place them at risk -- and that not all youth are equally at risk.

Outcome Chart - Newfoundland and Labrador - Canadian Law 2104/2204

Outcome Chart - Newfoundland and Labrador - Canadian Law 2104/2204

Technological Education 11-12

Strands in the Technological Education curriculum

The overall and specific expectations for each course in the technological education curriculum are typically organized in three distinct but related strands. The strands are Fundamentals; Skills; Technology, the Environment, and Society; and Professional Practice and Career Opportunities.

The Grade Eleven and Twelve curriculum document Technological Educationincludes information on how media literacy is relevant to the content of these courses:

English as an Additional Language

The following is reproduced from the document Curriculum Framework for English as an Additional Language (EAL) and Literacy, Academics and Language (LAL) Programming (2011):

Social Sciences and the Humanities 9-12

The Ontario social sciences curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The curriculum document: Social Sciences and Humanities (2013) includes a section that demonstrates the complementary relationship between the critical thinking approach of media education and social sciences:

English Language Arts 6-9

The Newfoundland language arts curriculum includes expectations that incorporate media education themes. The curriculum document English Language Arts Grade 9 Overview (2012) includes a section that demonstrates the complementary relationship between digital and media literacy and English language arts:

Break the Fake Tip #4: Check other sources

This step may sometimes be the last one you do, but it could also be the first. The News tab is better than the main Google search for this step because it only shows real news sources. While not every source that’s included is perfectly reliable, they are all news outlets that really exist.