The COVID-19 pandemic has closed schools, cancelled extracurricular activities, and isolated a large portion of the population at home all at once. Although Windsor-Essex is entering Phase 3, parents may be feeling overwhelmed with their children home more than usual, spending extra time online via phones, tablets, laptops and video games, possibly dealing with issues ranging from cyberbullying to FOMO to cruel comments…or worse.

Youth Diversion wants to help parents help their kids get the most from technology while managing risks by adding to our existing #parentingunplugged webinar series featuring guest speakers offering safety tips, commentary and strategies to implement at home on all aspects of tech use and parental controls.

The #parentingunplugged webinar series, Digital Parenting in the Age of COVID-19, is supported by the Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support Fund and WindsorEssex Community Foundation.

Digital Parenting in the Age of COVID-19 is intended to leave even the least tech-savvy parent feeling confident about strategies to implement at home to keep their child digitally resilient. Joanna Conrad, Executive Director of Youth Diversion along with guest speakers, Sergeant Jeff Taylor of the Internet Child Exploitation Unit of Windsor Police and Kevin Cosgrove, a local IT specialist with over twenty years experience in the field, educate parents about social networking risks, cyber security, exposure to pornography online, digital resiliency, predators,video game addiction and parental controls.

The webinars, available on the agency’s website and YouTube, are a convenient and easy-to- understand resource for parents with children of all ages. Youth Diversion wants parents to feel empowered to educate and support their kids in becoming positive decision makers online by encouraging responsible use.