Between the iPods, iPads, laptops, mobile phones and reading devices there’s a plethora of digi-fun at our fingertips. Apps, games, digipix, videos, shopping, texting, web-browsing and social connecting…it’s a whole new world that’s sucking in more and more of our time and becoming a way of life. We love it, so why shouldn’t our kids get in on the fun?

I’m all for tech toys but when it comes to our children, we still need to exercise good judgement and set age-appropriate boundaries. Put limits on screen time, use the parent controls and timers, and monitor the sites your child is visiting. As for texting, it seems like a free-for-all especially with the free texting apps that don’t require a phone, but it’s important to teach good manners and remind your children that every text leaves a digital footprint that can come back and bite you if you’re not careful. Texts can sometimes be misinterpreted and over-texting, sending multiple texts in a row without waiting for a response, is annoying at best and invasive and downright rude at worst. There’s a time and place for our gadgets. Let’s teach our children to use them respectfully and judiciously.