Kids and Computers Can Pose a Challenge in the Household

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Kids and computers — with the rapidly growing technology age we live in, kids and computers are just the beginning of the problem. There's Nintendo DS. There's cell phones and smart phones. The list goes on.

How do you monitor what your kids are actually doing, and how do you get them to put the technology away and reconnect with the real world?

Members of the stressed the placement of your electronics in monitoring what you're kids are doing.

Having a computer out in the open, where the parents can see the same things the kids are viewing, will help to limit the amount of harmful content they might stumble across. Having only a television in the living room, kitchen or other group rooms (rather than in the child's bedroom) means watching the same programs your kids are, and knowing what they are viewing.

Limiting the kids to visiting educational websites, such as pbskids.org, can be a helpful way of monitoring their technology exposure while also providing positive experiences from the site.

"Despite the fact that my children have little access to technology, I am amazed at how quickly they figure it out," Mary Boyle said. "My 5-year-old son could navigate the whole of pbskids.org long before he could even read and he seems to be able to pick up any cell phone and somehow he just knows how to make it work."

Right — kids know how to use the technology and they know how to find what they want. This might be a bigger problem on the Internet, which can easily be wide open to children. Parents can set a lot more limitations on the types of television programming their kids can get.

One Moms Council household uses Netflix only, and the kids select programming from certain educational channels, such as science and discovery channels. This, as the moms point out, also eliminates exposure to commercials.

Cell phones are for emergencies, and portable elections are just not necessary. Road trips offer the opportunity to look where you're going, have conversation, do a little reading.