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Uncategorized

Planting the Seeds For Your Tween’s Safe and Responsible Digital Life

When you introduce ideas and values about online behaviors to your tween in a way that is natural and integrated into your daily routine, you are planting the seeds for them to contemplate and to potentially explore with you in future conversations. When you sow seeds to grow a plant, there is so much that …

March 9, 2023
Uncategorized

A Roadmap to Supporting Your Tween’s Safe and Responsible Online Habits

It can be challenging to teach our tweens how to interact online safely, responsibly, and without constant oversight. Part of the reason for this is that there is no roadmap for teaching these skills.  This is where TDSU comes in. We believe that just pointing out to your child that there are specific expectations, skills …

February 13, 2023
Uncategorized

Steps For Teaching Kids to be Safe and Responsible Online

How do you break things down into understandable, manageable, and developmentally appropriate steps when seeking to help your tween learn a new skill?  We’ve already talked about why it is important to scaffold learning, meaning meeting your child where they are developmentally and breaking learning down into understandable and manageable steps as you teach them …

January 17, 2023
Uncategorized

Five Steps to Take When Your Tween Makes a Mistake Online

What do you do if your child posts, texts, or engages with something Disturbing, Disparaging, or Dangerous?  At TDSU, we call these 3Ds – It’s Bigger Than Me, which means these posts or texts are serious enough that an adult needs to get involved. Here are five steps you can take when your child has …

December 15, 2022
Uncategorized

How to Help Your Tween Orient to Different Digital Spaces

There are many different online platforms and different things are appropriate in each of them.   We all know a religious service might not be the best time to start chatting about a favorite video game.  And bathroom humor might not fly at Thanksgiving dinner with extended family.   Get your tween thinking about what things …

November 15, 2022
Uncategorized

Increasing Your Tween’s Independence Online

It isn’t unusual for tweens to push the boundaries and ask for more privileges, even if they aren’t quite ready.   Think about the sixth grader who argues they should be able to play hours of video games when they get home from school or the tween who wants unlimited access to their devices. By …

October 7, 2022
Uncategorized

The Adolescent Brain, Neuroplasticity, and Social Media

At TDSU we focus on tweens because their highly plastic brains make them uniquely primed to learn the skills they need to be safe, responsible, and eventually independent online.   What is neuroplasticity? Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to adapt and change in response to experiences. The adolescent brain is highly plastic, meaning that during …

September 15, 2022
Uncategorized

Using Scaffolded Instruction To Help Your Tween Be Safe, Responsible, and Eventually Independent Online

At TDSU we think the best way to support your child’s acquisition of new skills is to scaffold them as they learn.  Scaffolded instruction, at its core, is about meeting your child where they are developmentally.   What does it mean to scaffold your tween’s learning? Scaffolded instruction is a way of teaching a new …

July 13, 2022
Uncategorized

How To Model Safe and Responsible Online Behaviors For Your Tween

Children are influenced by what you do.   What is modeling?  When we model behaviors for our children we are setting examples for them to follow. We are showing rather than telling.   Does your child wear a seatbelt when they get in the car? Research shows that if you are consistent in wearing your seatbelt, your …

May 12, 2022
News

Helping Your Tween Be Part of a Supportive Online Community

Whether your tween just started texting with friends or they’ve been interacting online for years, you can show them what being part of a supportive online community feels like.  While there are many hallmarks of a supportive online community, in this blog we’d like to focus on shared expectations about how to interact.  When expectations …

March 14, 2022

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