Raising a Digital Child: A Digital Citizenship Handbook for Parents

By Mike Ribble

Publisher’s description:

“As a parent, do you ever wonder how you can possibly keep up with all the new technologies your children take for granted? Cell phones, online games, instant messaging, social networking, and other technologies have all become so important in the daily lives of young people, and they seem to take them up at younger and younger ages all the time. The kids view this new digital culture as a normal way of life, even though as parents you may feel overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar challenges. Cyberbullies, stalkers, identity theft, intellectual property theft—it’s hard to know just what you can do to confront the risks.

You want your children to enjoy all the benefits a technological society has to offer, but at the same time, you want them to stay safe and act as responsible members of society. Raising a Digital Child is your guide. Inside, you will learn about many of the newest and most popular technologies, in parent-friendly language, along with discussions of the risks each might harbor and the types of behaviors that every child should learn in order to become a good citizen in this new digital world.”

I grew up with computers. When I was in college there was a mainframe the size of a room in the building where I took my Computer Science classes and noone had a computer at home. When Apple introduced it’s first home computer my parents bought one. Since that time I’ve used computers at home and later at work so I feel quite at home with them. I guess I’m one of the fortunate ones because many people I know and have met aren’t overly familiar with computers and find talking about them to be along the lines of speaking a foreign language.

So much of parenting a first child is trial and error and trial by fire. TJ is thirteen and enjoys going online, as do most children. As his exploration of the internet and his knowledge of computer use increases I often feel thankful that for once I can relate. But as we all know, sometimes the rules of the game change while the game is still being played. I may be able to type 70 or more words per minute but he can text what seems to be 70 or more sentences per second using tons of abbreviations that I have no idea as to what they stand for. It’s at times like this that I feel a little out of my league. I can only imagine how someone not comfortable with computers feels at times like this.

As parents it is our job to teach our children responsibility. Mike Ribble has written a book entitled Raising a Digital Child: A Digital Citizenship Handbook for Parents, which is a guidebook to the internet and technology for parents. The book is designed to help educate parents on popular technologies available today as well as the risks that come with electronic information, as well as give them the important information needed to teach their child about being a responsible digital citizen of the world.The book focuses strongly on digital citizenship and it’s nine elements:

• Digital access
• Digital commerce
• Digital communication
• Digital literacy
• Digital etiquette
• Digital law
• Digital rights and responsibilities
• Digital health and wellness
• Digital security

Raising a Digital Child: A Digital Citizenship Handbook for Parents by Mike Ribble bears ISBN #978-1-56484-250-3. The book is published by Home Page Books, which is an imprint for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). ISTE is a nonprofit organization providing leadership and service to improve teaching, learning, and school leadership by advancing the effective use of technology in PK–12 and teacher education. This is their first book especially for parents. Non-members may purchase the book online for $24.95.

GIVEAWAY

The winner will receive a new copy of Raising a Digital Child: A Digital Citizenship Handbook for Parents by Mike Ribble.

HOW TO ENTER

Leave a comment on this post telling me if you currently have any guidelines or rules in place for your child for going online.

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THE SMALL PRINT

US addresses only please. This contest will end on Sunday 04/19/09 at 11:59 pm est. Only comments containing all of the requested information will be eligible for entry. The winner will be selected randomly. The winner must contact me within 2 days to confirm they wish to receive the prize. Good luck to everyone!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

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