This post is sponsored by National PTA Ready, Tech, Go!
Parenting in the digital age isn’t easy especially since our kids often want digital devices before we’re ready for them to have them. Before we put cell phones, tablets, and computers in their hands, it’s important to figure out when they’re truly ready for these devices then work with them to establish healthy digital habits. But knowing when they’re ready and teaching them to use technology safely and responsibly is easier said than done.
Fortunately, the National PTA recognizes the challenge of parenting in the digital age. They created Ready, Tech, Go! in partnership with AT&T to help families of elementary age kids connect safely and develop healthy digital habits.
About Ready, Tech, Go!
Ready, Tech, Go! provides resources to help parents and caregivers have meaningful discussions about screen readiness while promoting healthy and responsible device use for all members of the family.
Materials provided through Ready, Tech, Go! teach families to:
- Identify and reflect on various aspects of screen readiness
- Become familiar with tools and resources to determine screen readiness and discuss digital life
- Gain new ideas to help create a healthy digital home
Current statistics, questions to consider, how to create digital expectations, conversation starters, and additional resources empower parents to have important conversations about digital life and create healthy screen habits so all members can make good decisions when it comes to technology use.
Free resources available through the website can be accessed and used at any time. They can also be used to help PTAs plan, promote, and host a 60-80 minute interactive educational event for your school community.
How to Use Ready, Tech, Go! to Teach Healthy Digital Habits
Ready, Tech, Go! makes it easy for any parent, school staff member, or community member to present at a PTA meeting or community event. By using the program materials and resources in a larger group setting, parents and caregivers can come together to share challenges of parenting during time when technology is part of our kids’ daily lives but also learn how to set their family up for success by creating a healthy digital home.
How to Get Started with Ready, Tech, Go!
The best way to get started with Ready, Tech, Go! is to look at their website. Information to help your family or how to host an interactive in-person PTA event can be found by scrolling part way down the page.
There are 4 different tabs, each with resources. If you’re looking for information to guide you and your family towards good decisions when it comes to technology use, you’ll want to click on the Promotions tab.
If you’re looking to host an in-person Ready, Tech, Go! event for your school or community, you’ll want to visit each of the 4 sections: Planning, Promotion, Hosting, and Wrap Up.
The National PTA and AT&T could not have done a better job organizing and creating material that is accessible to all! They’ve made it so easy to plan and facilitate an in-person event through what they’ve made available on their website! Take a look at the many resources available to use at your next PTA meeting below, all available in English and Spanish.
Planning a Ready, Tech, Go! Event
Under the Planning tab you’ll find an Agenda, Planning Guide, and Volunteer Invitation- each available in English and Spanish.
The Planning Guide serves as a helpful document when planning your live in-person Ready, Tech, Go! event. It includes what you’ll need for your event (Event Requirements), Event Goals, list of key people to invite, timeline for promotion, how to create a budget, and considerations for finding speakers.
The Agenda is a downloadable ready-to-print document for attendees that details what will be covered during the event. The Event Time and allocated time for each session can be edited to fit the length of your meeting.
If you think you might want volunteers for your event, the Sample Volunteer Invitation is a downloadable Word document that you can edit to include information about your Ready, Tech, Go! event.
Promoting Your Ready, Tech, Go! Event
The most successful events are the ones that people know about and fortunately, National PTA makes promoting Ready, Tech, Go! easy so it’s a light lift for all involved.
Sample Promotional Messaging is your toolkit for getting the word out. Ready, Tech, Go! provides everything you need to successfully promote your event by sharing tips for effective messaging, how to craft your message, as well as sample e-Newsletter and social media posts with suggested hashtags.
The Event Flier allows you to customize it for your event. Fliers can be printed and displayed at school, posted to your school’s social media channels, or sent out digitally through email or listservs.
The text of the Participant Invitation can also be customized for you to copy, paste, and share through your school’s communication channels. I love that it clearly states what parents and caregivers will learn during the event. I shared part of the Spanish version of the invitation but just like all the other materials, there is an English one available too.
Hosting Your Event
If you’re worried about the content of the presentation for your Ready, Tech, Go! event, don’t be! National PTA and AT&T provide a Facilitator’s Guide to prepare you to share the Education Presentation with your audience.
The Facilitator’s Guide provides a script for each of the 32 slides in the PowerPoint Presentation.
The Education Presentation is ready-to-share PowerPoint that can be used immediately upon downloading. It teaches families about what current research says about kids’ tech habits, the meaning of “screen readiness,” and provides discussion questions for small groups to use to talk about ways to promote healthy and responsible device use for all members of the family.
Each of the PowerPoint slides includes notes, what to say, as well as cues to play the hyperlinked videos and questions for small groups to use to discuss.
The Tech-Free Phone Ready Quiz is an interactive quiz that attendees can take to help parents and caregivers decide if their child is phone ready.
There is also a downloadable and printable Take-Home Tips Sheet for Parents & Caregivers features Tips for Building Healthy Digital Habits in Your Home.
This handout includes QR codes that direct attendees to resources shared during the presentation. This can be given out as a hard copy to those attending in person or emailed as event follow-up.
If you’d like to take photos of your event, there’s also a Media Release Form for attendees to sign.
Wrap Up Resources
After the event, use the Speaker Thank You Letter, Volunteer Thank You Letter, and Participant Thank You Letter templates to properly thank those who attended.
Part of creating a healthy digital home involves feeling empowered to have conversations with our kids about the technology in their lives and I’m glad that Ready, Tech, Go!’s free materials and resources can help. I love that a wealth of resources is available in one place to teach parents about the important conversations they need to be having with their kids to raise responsible digital citizens.
After reading this post and taking a look at the resources, share Ready, Tech, Go! with your PTA! Share this post or a link to the Ready, Tech, Go! website to let them know how they can use these materials to teach families how to have important conversations about connecting safely and developing healthy digital habits.
This post was sponsored by National PTA but all opinions are my own.
