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Families Can Strengthen Values, Bonds by Moving From Dinner to
the Internet
The hypothesis at FamilyLobby is that
more time on the Internet can promote strong family ties.
Advocates for
families children frequently see the Internet as a danger zone for preteens and
teens. When one considers the presence of online predators, online gambling,
cyber bullying, and a host of other potential dangers it is easy to see how this
view developed. Many adults also face problems on the Internet, and colleges are
now teaching about online safety during freshman orientation. Another side to the
Internet, however, holds out hope for bringing up healthy kids and bringing the
whole family together.
Davon Cannon of FamilyLobby.com, which provides free family
websites, says, "We think there's good reason to believe that services like
ours may actually play an important role in helping to build healthy families in
the Twenty-first century.” Though there may not, as of yet, be any empirical
studies that prove families coming together to build and maintain a website has
a positive impact, one recent study on teens does give some important insights.
When researchers at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
(CASA) at Columbia University released the findings of their tenth back to school study, they found four important factors in
keeping teens off drugs. Characteristics of teens that had half the risk of
substance abuse compared to average teens included: 1) teens who frequently ate
meals with their families (five to seven times per week), 2) teens who had low
levels of tension or stress among family members, 3) teens whose parents were
proud of them and 4) teens who had a parent they could confide in.
Cannon suggests that, "An activity like building a family website together
can give parents the opportunity to show pride in their children." He went on to
say, "Parents can post pictures of their kids, talk about their children’s
accomplishments and praise them to other family members and friends. Children
can show off their work and talk about what is important to them"
Time spent together gives kids an opportunity to confide in their parents
which is one reason Cannon doesn't believe that this should be a one-way
activity with parents doing all the creating. "The families who will get the
most out of this activity are the ones who sit down and co-create the site.”
Such an activity can promote important values such as cooperation and sharing.
At the same time the family has the opportunity to explore its own identity
while working together to build a website.
"Our goal is to provide a place where family history can be documented, jokes
can be told and family values can be examined.” Cannon went on to say, "These
are goals that are important enough to those of us at FamilyLobby that we are
willing to give any family who visits www.familyLobby.com a free
website for as long as they wish to maintain it."
About FamilyLobby
FamilyLobby.com is leading provider of easy to build
websites for families, church groups, and membership clubs. The site provides a
safe environment for children to talk, post pictures, and download clips to keep
friends and family updated. All content and features are designed for family
friendliness. Families are invited to take a tour today.
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