Social-Emotional Learning in Your Child's Digital Life

Social-Emotional Learning in Your Child's Digital Life

The 1Kids series began because we saw a huge gap in how we prepare children for life online. Kids today use screens before they can do practical life skills like tying their shoelaces. From birth, they’re surrounded by smartphones taking their pictures and adults scrolling, typing and streaming.

We are in a digital age that is consumed by technology - but we are not consistently teaching our kids how to use it in a way that supports both safety and social-emotional growth. As wonderful as the internet can be, it can also be confusing, overwhelming and sometimes harmful.

Children today are surrounded by technology at home - TV, computers, tablets, phones - and they are getting access earlier and earlier. Whether it’s YouTube, shows or games, digital content is shaping how they think about friendships, handle emotions, how they see conflict, kindness and empathy.

Studies show that around 40% of children aged 2 and younger already have a personal tablet with more than half having them by kindergarten (NPR, 2025). By elementary school approximately over 80% of students are handed school devices for learning.

So, what's the problem?

We are handing out powerful technology in schools and at home, but formal lessons on digital behavior, emotion, and cybersecurity skills usually don’t start till late middle school or even high school - if they appear at all. Age-appropriate conversations about how to act, feel and respond online are still rare.

Kids are expected to use devices and platforms everyday - but they are not consistently taught to recognize when something they see or hear doesn’t feel right, handle conflict, talk about their feelings when a game video or message upsets them, show kindness and empathy in chats/games, and respond appropriately to cyber risks.

This means the gap falls on the parents and caregivers as the main teachers of social-emotional skills in digital spaces.

Why does social-emotional learning online matter?

Well it matters because children at a young age are logging into school accounts with usernames and passwords, using shared laptops or tablets, clicking links in assignments and watching videos and playing games with others online.

Without guidance, they are more vulnerable not only to cyber risks (scams, oversharing, unsafe behavior, etc.), but also to - big emotions, hurt feelings, copying unkind behavior and shutting down.

Schools are beginning to recognize this, but curriculum change moves slowly. As a result, there’s a real-world gap between how much technology kids and how prepared they are to use it in emotionally healthy and safe ways.

What Can Parents Do?

Here are some tips and tricks you can do at home -- even if school isn't teaching it yet:

• Create at least 5 clear rules to apply to everyone, such as:

  • No sharing personal information (full name, address, school, phone number, etc.)

  • No secrets online (if someone talks to you that you don’t know or someone tells you to hide messages from your parents - that’s a red flag)

  • Ask before clicking

  • Use strong unique passwords

  • If something feels off, weird or scary - tell an adult

• Strong Passwords

  • Help create easy-to-remember passphrases instead of simple words

  • Avoid using the same passwords for school, gaming and email

• Pause Before you Click

  • Sit with your child and walk through real examples:

    • A “free prize” message

    • A strange email asking them to log in

    • A link sent in a game chat

  • Then, ask:

    • “What do you notice about this?”

    • “Who is this from?”

    • “What could happen if we click without checking?”

  • Teach the pause and ask an adult whenever:

    • They are surprised by a message

    • Someone unknown asks them to click a link

    • Pop-up or ad-offers something too good to be true

• Make It Safe To Tell You When Something Goes Wrong

  • One of the biggest risks isn’t just what kids see, it’s that they don’t tell anyone when they’re uncomfortable, scared or embarrassed

  • Make a promise that your child can come to you with anything and that they won’t be in trouble

  • Then reinforce it with your reactions when they come to you with a problem:

    • Thank them for telling you

    • Stay Calm

    • Focus on solving the issue and not blaming or shaming

• Learn Together in Small, Regular Moments

  • Short regular conversations about technology will help no need for long lessons.

  • Ideas:

    • Have “Tech Talks” at dinner once a week (5-10 minutes)

    • Asking questions about what the kids are doing and how it works.

    • Watching a short video about online safety together and asking questions about what they think

  • This is all about building a habit of awareness and open discussion

Schools are slowly moving towards integrating digital citizenship and cybersecurity into the curriculum, but for now there is a gap - especially for the younger generation. Being given powerful tools both at home and in the classroom without consistent guidance on safety and staying emotionally healthy.

The great news is families can make a major difference by making little changes in their day to day life by talking about cybersecurity and building the foundation of strong emotional connection with your children at home!