Matt and Val break down how to teach kids what the internet actually is, why privacy matters, and how to raise kids who aren't naive about the online world — without scaring them.
Show Notes
Val came up with a metaphor that actually works: your kid's tablet is a house, the apps are rooms, and the internet is the front door. Open the door and the whole world is right there — good, bad, and everything in between.
Matt and Val break down how to teach kids what the internet actually is before they need unrestricted access to it. They cover sharenting (your kid's first digital footprint is yours), why passwords are keys and not friendship bracelets, how to have safety conversations without defaulting to "stranger danger," and when kids should get their own private digital space.
Resources discussed include PBS Kids' Sidewalk Sushi (a digital literacy game disguised as a food truck), The Achievery from the National PTA and AT&T, Khan Academy's digital literacy course, NCMEC, and Thorn. The throughline: raise kids who aren't scared of the internet, but aren't naive about it either.
No guest this time. Just two parents figuring out how to explain the internet to their kids — and realizing they need to explain it to themselves first.
What is Two Factor Parenting?
Two Factor Parenting is a conversation between two parents navigating technology's role in raising kids. He's the early adopter and tech optimist. She's the skeptic who asks "but should we?" Together they tackle screen time, AI, social media, and all the parenting decisions that don't come with a manual.
Two parents. Two perspectives. Raising kids in the age of screens, AI, and chaos.