Online Manners Matter

A person with good manners attracts the attention and admiration of everyone since good manners are essential to form a good character. As parents, we need to ensure that our children are taught good manners so that they implement them in their day-to-day tasks and in the online world. And although children may consider good manners as burdensome, they will value them when they grow up. 

As soon as the child is trained to behave well, even when he commits a mistake, he will try to fix it. So, the generation will be raised to follow the proper behavior.   

Children need to be also aware that online manners are just as important as manners in the physical world. Harm can also be caused to people online if we don’t pay attention to our online behavior. 

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., have changed the way people communicate with each other. These sites have attracted grownups and children to the extent that they cannot stop posting photos of themselves and commenting on other's post and photo, so we need to be aware of how children are behaving online because these sites give the privilege of anonymity and it can be misused by our children, as they post anything online. If your children are not aware of Internet etiquette, then they are at risk and you need to explain to them good online behavior. 

Teach your children to respect and consider everyone. 

Before writing or posting anything, teach your children to think if the same text or comment were sent to them by someone, how they would react.  

Ask them to be empathetic. If a person is posting inappropriate or fake information, teach your child to block the person, and not to respond. Encourage them to write and post positive things and to never write bad things about others or to spread negative information on the web. 

Encourage them to speak the truth. 

We need to make our children accountable for their actions and behavior online and to teach them to post and share the right information only. So, if they have written bad comments against anyone, teach them to apologize and encourage them to comply with website terms and conditions and proper online manners.  

Remind them that anything posted on the Internet remains there forever, so remind them to think it through properly before they post any information or comment.