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Summer offers a great time to enjoy your children -- unplugged. Credit: Getty Images

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Vacation is about unplugging and recharging! Credit: Getty Images

What's the biggest challenge facing families this summer? Cancelled flights? Rain delays? Try unplugging from our 24/7 media lives. For kids, that means no texting, no DS, no iPod, no computer. For parents, it means cutting the cord that keeps us connected to work (or Facebook, or our favorite podcast...).

We know it's not easy. And it affects nearly every family, no matter how old your kids are. (Some experts are even saying that mobile apps are the hottest
educational tools for kids!)

But with planning, coaxing, and a major dose of self-control, you can ditch the gadgets and enjoy some family face time.

1. Soften the blow. Call a family meeting to discuss your vacation schedule. Explain that it's going to be a digital-free trip -- and why. Then move quickly to No. 2.

2. Be flexible. So no one feels completely out of touch, plan something media-related that you can all do together. Have a family movie night, or schedule time during the day that gives everyone time to check their email or text a friend. (Set a timer!)

3. Unplug yourself. Kids learn more from what we do than from what we say. So say so long to your iPhone or Blackberry.

4. Do your research. Plan off-line activities that relate to where you're going. If you're going to Hawaii, learn about the native culture -- or take hula lessons!

5. Choose the road less traveled. Unplug your GPS, and have the kids navigate using a paper map. Extra credit for those who refold the map correctly.

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• Do some preparation. Tell your child homesickness is normal, that it means he or she has a home that he or she loves.
• Empathize with your child's fears, but do not get infected by them.
• Express confidence in your child's resilience and admiration for his or her courage in going to camp.
• Tell your child you are sure he or she will get help from counselors and friends when needed.
• And, please, tell your children you want them to have fun. Children need to go off to camp with your blessing, not your anxiety.

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Even if kids think what they post is private, nothing is guaranteed. Credit: Getty Images

• Twenty-seven percent of all 9- to 17-year-olds are practiced online producers, maintaining blogs, pages or other online spaces at least three times a week (Grunwald Associates, 2007).
• Most computers now come with basic photo editing software built in.
• Anyone older than 13 can post a YouTube video.
• Social networks such as MySpace have become showcases for teen-created music, videos and photos.
• Some fan fiction sites give kids a forum to write their own stories about their favorite books or movies.

• Pick age-appropriate tools. There are great programs for elementary kids to draw, make birthday cards, create digibooks and more. For older kids, check that their new technology isn't too complicated or advanced for them. For example, a middle-school student might not make good choices when it comes to using the webcam on her new computer.
• Assess the level of technical difficulty before your kids dive in. If they aren't ready for it, trying to do something will frustrate them -- and you.
• Know how programs work. You don't have to know how to make a video or create a music mash-up, but you do have to know enough to have the talk with your children about using programs responsibly. Not sure where to begin? Ask your kids how they use the tools or programs they love.
• Using someone else's work without approval is a huge no-no. It's called plagiarism or piracy or copyright violation. Any way you look at it, the idea is for kids to create something, not rip off something else.
• Talk about what's appropriate. You've given them the tools, now teach kids how to use them responsibly.
• Once something is posted, anyone can see it, share it, re-use it and/or comment on it. So, it should be something that your kids are willing to have anyone at the dinner table see.
• Don't let money -- or the lack of it -- stand in your child's way. Encourage collaboration with other kids and community programs.
• Most importantly, encourage and motivate your child. The creative avenues are there, the positive possibilities are endless. How you guide your child through all the choices can make all the difference. Steer kids toward sites and activities that fit their interests -- and your values as a family.

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Middle schoolers lead digital lives, so why not make sure they do it safely? Credit: Getty Images

• Most teens are online: 91 percent have an email address; 60 percent have an instant-message screen name; and 72 percent have profiles on social networking sites (Harris Interactive, 2009).
• Seventy-seven percent of 8- to 15-year-olds said they'd rather give up TV than give up the Internet (Pangea Media and YPulse, 2009).
• Twenty-seven percent of all 9- to 17-year-olds work on blogs or other online spaces at least three times a week (Grunwald Associates, 2008).
• One in five kids ages 8 to 17 say they do things online that their parents would not approve of (Norton Online Living Report, 2007).

• Never share names, schools, ages, phone numbers or addresses.
• Never open an email from a stranger -- it may contain viruses that can harm a computer.
• Never send pictures to strangers or view pictures that strangers send to them.
• Keep passwords private (except to parents).
• Tell a trusted adult if something mean or creepy happens on the Internet.

• Visit age-appropriate sites. Find sites that promote learning and creativity and that deepen your kids' interests. Also check out popular websites before your kids visit them. Despite what your kids might tell you, social networks such as MySpace or Facebook are not meant for middle-schoolers.
• Minimize chatting with strangers. Tell your kids people aren't always who they say they are on the Internet. Anyone can pose as a "buddy of a buddy." If kids are playing online games with people they don't personally know, they should be careful not to disclose anything personal.
• Help kids think critically about what they find online. Young people need to know not everything they see is true. You may wish to use safe-search settings or filtering software for younger kids. And you can always check browser histories to see where your kids have been.
• If they wouldn't do it in real life, they shouldn't do it online. Remind them: Don't say mean things, and don't cheat in games or at school.
• Have some rules about time and place. Set limits on the amount of time your kids spend online. Don't let them Instant Message (IM) while doing homework. Restrict time and sites for online gaming.
• Agree on downloads. What music is OK? Which video sites? Don't just hand out your credit card information to your kids. If they need to buy something, you should be involved.
• Talk about privacy. Remind your kids that when they post something online, they lose control of it. It can be cut and pasted and sent around the Web. Show kids where privacy settings are on their favorite sites and help them think about the settings they should use.
• Make sure kids feel safe reporting bad behavior. It doesn't have to be you, but if anything suspicious, mean or scary happens, they need to know they won't get in trouble if they tell a trusted adult.
• Be involved and view your own habits carefully. Parents are their role models for safe and smart use. Enjoy the good stuff together!

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Unlike regular IM, where kids sometimes talk a big game, you can't be anonymous with video chatting. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

• Video chatting -- basically Instant Message (IM) with video -- has become totally accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a webcam.
• All of the major IM programs support video chatting.
• Video chatting is integrated into social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.
• Most U.S. households with computers have webcams.
• Video chat rooms are easy to find on the Internet and are very often sex-related.

• Set age limits. Just because a laptop comes with a camera doesn't mean your kid has to use it. Make sure that any chatting with grandparents or a traveling parent takes place under your watch. And keep young kids away from any unaccompanied chatting.
• Understand the technology. Open an account yourself, and get your whole family connected. If your kid views the program as a way of staying in touch with family, there might be less risk of misuse with friends.
• Model good video chat behavior. Show kids how to be polite and respectful, and let them know that's the behavior you expect when they're video chatting with their friends.
• Use privacy settings. Just like other communication tools like Facebook and Yahoo Messenger, most video chat programs come with privacy settings. TokBox, for example, has three settings -- all of which your kids should enable. You can set it to allow only contacts from your existing friend list. You can also hide yourself from searches so that no one can search your name and contact you. And you can hide your friend list, which protects your friends' identities. That said, nothing keeps your children perfectly safe, so you need to keep an eye on their video chatting activities by allowing video chatting only in public rooms
• No sexy stuff. Video chatting is widely used on the Internet for sexual purposes. Once your webcam and account are set up, it's easy to stumble onto these sites. You can user browers controls to restrict what sites your kids can visit, and you can educate them about never going there. Internet sex laws are being enacted all over the country; you don't want your kid subject to them.
• Be careful. A lot of kids use video chatting as an innocent way to hang out with friends, but it can be a slippery slope. Kids shouldn't post anything that could get them into trouble. Video programs allow you to record short videos, and once something is captured on video, it can last forever -- and can be broadcast and viewed by vast anonymous audiences. Steer clear of instant video-chatting sites like chatroulette, which instantly connect you with strangers (who are typically trolling for sexual encounters).
• Set time limits. Video chat can be a time sucker, so, as with much online activity, be sure to get your children to agree on how long they will spend video chatting.

• Learning together. Kids can use video chat to work with other kids on school projects, puzzle out homework assignments, and, if their classroom is equipped, log in on sick days to learn long distance. (Check out our tips for using Facebook for homework.) These sessions can drag on, though, so set time limits before kids log on.
• Hello mudda, hello fadda. Believe it or not, summer camps are beginning to use video chat to stave off homesickness (and maybe to keep parents away). For long-distance travel or the summer-camp blues, video chat can help families stay in touch when they miss each other.
• Birds of a feather. Video chat allows clubs to get together to share news without having to leave home. If your kid is in a club, they can share photos and videos and refer others to Web sites that relate to the club. Social networking sites like Ning let you create a circle of friends interested in the same subject.

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Teaching Internet safety includes reminding your kids not to give out private information online. Credit: Getty Images

• In May 2009, children aged 2 to 11 made up nearly 10 percent of the active online universe (Nielsen, 2010).
• 18 percent of 8- to 10-year-olds spend time on some kind of social networking site daily (Kaiser, 2010).
• 71 percent of parents report having experienced one or more Internet-related issues with their children within the past year (Harris Interactive poll, 2007).
• 3 out of 4 parents think it's just as important to know how to use digital media as it is to learn traditional skills like reading and writing (Harris Interactive Poll, 2007).

• Never share their names, schools, ages, phone numbers or addresses.
• Never send pictures to strangers.
• Keep passwords private (except to parents).
• Never open email from strangers -- they may contain viruses that can harm a computer.
• Immediately tell an adult if something mean or creepy happens.

• Visit only age-appropriate sites. Check out the site before your kids visit it. Know what features and what content exist and make sure they're good for your kids.
• Search safely. Use safe search settings for young kids or think about applying filtering software to limit inappropriate exposure.
• Avoid strangers. Tell your kids that people aren't always who they say they are in cyberspace. Explain that if someone they don't know talks to them, they shouldn't respond but should let you know.
• Be a good cyber citizen. Remind kids that an Internet playground is still a playground and they need to play nicely. A good rule of thumb: If they wouldn't do something in real life, they shouldn't do it online. Find out how your children can report mean behavior or unkind content on their favorite sites and teach them how to do it.
• Online cheating? It's still cheating and it's a no-no -- pure and simple.
• Keep the computer in a central place. So you can see what's going on.
• Establish expectations and limits about the amount of time your children spend online and what they do. Check out our family media agreement for a helpful place to start.
• View your own habits carefully. You are their role models.
• But, mostly, be involved and have fun with them. Keeping kids safe and teaching them how to use digital technology responsibly is all about staying involved. Start by showing interest in the sites they visit and the games they play and your job will be a lot easier when they start exploring these technologies more independently.

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Fifty-two percent of 13- to 17-year-olds admit to some form of cheating involving the Internet. Credit: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc, Getty Images

• 83 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds have cell phones; 53 percent have had them since they were 12 or younger.
• More than 35 percent admitted to using their cell phones to cheat.
• 52 percent admitted to some form of cheating involving the Internet.
• 38 percent said they copied text from websites and turned it in as their own work.
• 65 percent of students with cell phones say they use them at school, but only 23 percent of parents think their children use cell phones during school hours.
• 69 percent of schools have policies that don't permit cell phone use, but more than half of all kids ignore them.
• (All of the above refer to teens 13 to 17 and stats are from Common Sense Media, 2009.)

• Be aware that when you hand your children phones, you're giving them communication superpowers. Gone are the days when kids used cell phones just to talk. They text, take pictures and videos and sometimes access the Internet.
• Do your homework. It's up to you to kn,ow what your kids are doing with the technology they have. So make sure you understand what that technology is capable of doing. Make restrictions when you feel they're important. For example, just because their friends have phones that can search the Internet doesn't mean your kids have to have the same capabilities.
• Don't assume your children automatically know what's right and wrong. The digital world operates with different rules -- that is, wherever rules even exist. Establish rules about use right from the start. Make sure kids have cited their material, clearly indicating where they found that statistic, that insight, that map. Be explicit about what is and isn't acceptable behavior. Don't assume they know. And make sure you have real consequences for breaking the rules. (Hint: Taking the phone away works every time.)
• If you suspect your child is cheating, consider checking the phone. A look at the pictures and the text messages will let you know if something's going on. But be aware that this is big-league snooping. Establish some expectations with your children ahead of time by letting them know that if you think something's amiss, you're going to check it out.
• Review school policies. Most schools have clearly established consequences for anyone caught plagiarizing or cheating. In fact, many schools have software that can tell if someone's "lifted" material and presented it as their own. Tell your children you expect them to live by the established rules. Review the school consequences -- from having to redo a paper to expulsion -- and set up some additional home consequences for any violations.
• Even if you think they would never cheat, have the talk. You can ask your kids if they know of anyone who's cheated (they'll be more likely to talk about others than themselves). Ask them why they think anyone would cheat and what they get out of it in the long term. It never hurts to reinforce that digital cheating is still cheating.

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Can your child enjoy himself -- and all those things that aren't online -- when he's away from the computer? Credit: Getty Images

• 77 percent of 8- to 15-year-olds said they'd rather give up TV than give up the Internet (Pangea Media and YPulse, 2009).
• Most parents in the United States estimate their children spend about two hours a month on the Internet, but, in reality, kids and teens are spending upwards of 20 hours a month surfing the Web (Center for Media Research, 2009).
• About 41 percent of U.S. teens claim their parents have no idea what they are looking at online (Center for Media Research, 2009).
• 76 percent of parents think the Internet helps their kids learn about other cultures and ideas (Common Sense Media and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, 2008).

• Establish good habits early. Kids need guidelines and rules about what is a good amount of time to spend on the computer. A good rule of thumb for elementary kids is no more than an hour a day during the week. Allotting computer time in 15- or 30-minute increments gives you a chance to check in and suggest that it's time for a break.
• Stress homework before computer work. Make sure your kids know homework must be finished before they look at YouTube videos or instant message the latest gossip.
• Limit multitasking. Media multitasking is when kids are chatting online, watching TV, playing a game, checking out Facebook or listening to music -- and trying to do homework at the same time. It's not really known what affect this has on how kids learn, but experts do know it takes longer to do tasks like homework when other activities are going on at the same time. And that increases daily screen time.
• Determine if your child has an addiction or if he or she is simply spending too much time online. What happens when your children are away from the computer? Are they argumentative, depressed? Is there a marked change when they are online?
• If you suspect a dependency, have a heart-to-heart. Have a real discussion with your kids about your concerns. This, plus some serious guidelines, may normalize the behavior. If the problem continues, or you think the computer time is masking depression or anxiety, see your child's doctor for advice. Also, check in with the school counselor and see if there is something going on at school.
• Don't take away the computer. This may seem like the best solution, but it can be very damaging to addicted players, who may feel playing online games is the only thing that brings them any enjoyment. Removing the computer can make them depressed, and possibly, even violent. It can also affect the level of your child's trust in you.
• Don't hesitate to get professional help. Addictions are hard to break, and dependencies can often be a child's only coping skill. You may need someone else to help you solve this problem.

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How does a parent choose which media to allow their kids to spend time with? Credit: Getty Images

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Getting your kids away from media shouldn't be an ordeal. Credit: Corbis

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Advertisements leave an impression on your children. Credit: Getty Images

• The alcohol industry is allowed by regulators to advertise on TV shows only where 70 percent of the audience is older than 21.
• Alcohol producers spent $991 million on television advertising in 2002 - 60 percent of it on sports programming (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2003).
• Online games, group pages on social media sites, and banner ads on popular sites for teens are some new ways that alcohol producers are promoting their products. The producers of Southern Comfort now pour their entire advertising budget into social media sites like Facebook (Ad Age, 2009).
• Several studies point to the power of product placements for alcohol in TV and movies - for example, characters drinking a specific type of beer - to influence when kids start drinking as well as what and how much they drink (Marin Institute, 2008).
• Kids whose parents restrict R-rated movies drink less alcohol and start drinking later than peers whose parents put no restrictions on movies (Dartmouth, 2010).

• Keep them away from alcohol ads. Mute the ads when they come on. Especially the funny ones because the kids remember them and repeat them. One recent study showed that elementary kids could name almost all the alcohol brands showed to them but could only identify two past presidents.

• Spell it out. Let your kids know about marketing and that alcohol advertisers are trying to hook them on their brands - just to get more money in their pockets. Help your children decode ads' messages: What kind of lifestyle are they selling? Do these ads tell the whole story - or do they leave something out (such as DUIs, addiction, liver disease, etc.)?
• Moderate alcohol on TV. You have a right to say no to programs that seem to celebrate teen drinking or show too many alcohol ads. This goes for movies, radio stations, magazines, and websites, too. Check out our reviews to see how a program portrays alcohol, then set your own rules.
• Look for teachable moments. If you're watching a TV show, and there's a scene featuring teen drinking, or you read about a celebrity arrested for doing drugs, check in with your kids. Ask them about if their peers are using alcohol, or if they have any anxieties or questions about drinking. Take time to share your opinions - and expectations - about teens and drinking.
• Watch your messages. Be a good role model by not being drunk in front of your kids or by not using alcohol to escape problems. Make sure that you don't glamorize alcohol or drugs by sharing stories about "wild days" in your past.
• Keep an eye on alcohol ads embedded in new media. You don't want your kids to follow Smirnoff on Facebook or Twitter, download the latest Budweiser mobile app, or be influenced by other ways that alcohol companies are embedding their messages.

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