Getting Your Kids to Take Better Care of Their Tech Gadgets

By Evan Fischer
Sponsored Guest Contributor

Kids are not known for taking care of their stuff. It just comes with the territory. Kid toys get dropped, thrown, stepped on, left on the stairs, left out in the rain, splattered with food, and banged up in a countless number of ways. Most of the time it’s no big deal. If your kids breaks their toy doll or action figure, they simply do not have it anymore and must deal with the consequences. But if you’ve bought your child a laptop, smartphone, tablet, portable DVD player, or other expensive tech gadget, it’s not so cut and dry. You want them to learn responsibility and take care of their things, but you also can’t sit idly by and watch that expensive electronic investment be slowly destroyed. So how do you get your kids to take better care of their laptops and tech gadgets?

The first step is setting a few ground rules. For example, gadgets do not mix well with food and drinks, and if your child isn’t responsible enough to understand that, they’re just going to have to do it because you say so. It’s always tempting to bring a snack and a soda with you while you’re surfing the internet or playing a video game, but nothing will destroy an electronic device faster. So let your child know that if they expect to keep that high-priced gadget, there is to be no food or drinks anywhere close to it while it is in use. To truly protect the device, you’re going to have to add real consequences as well. If you discover them breaking the rules, they get a warning. After three strikes, you take it away. Eventually you’ll notice them telling their friends the rules on their own, at which point you can probably rest easy. Or, at least, easier.

Another great way to keep those laptops and tech gadgets safe is to make sure they have one specific place they are kept. The laptop should always end up on a desk, the tablets or smartphones in a drawer, and so on. You’ll have to inspect things on a daily basis, at first, to make sure they get the hang of it. With everything put away in its proper place, there will be far fewer opportunities for it to be bumped, smacked, dropped, stepped on, or otherwise destroyed by accident. Again, let your child know this rule far in advance and set some real consequences if they disregard it.

Of course you can’t expect your child to be perfect, so make sure you give them the proper accessories to keep their gadgets safe. For example, all smartphones should be carried in cases, so they will survive if they are accidentally dropped. No matter the phone you get them, you’ll always be able to find a solid case for it. Any portable game players, tablets or DVD players should always have some sort of well-padded carrying case as well. Most tablets can be put in a hard shell case, just like a smartphone, but also consider picking up a soft case to store it in. iPods and headphones should have carrying cases, as should any laptop you buy. And take it one step further by purchasing a screen protector for the computer or handheld device, which will keep it clean and lower the chances of cracks, scratches, and broken pixels.

When you are dealing with children, or a person of any age for that matter, accidents will happen. Proper storage of your fun but expensive tech gadgets will lessen the damage caused as will some solid ground rules. The end result will be a longer life expectancy for your tech gadgets and teaching your kids to be responsible. Win-win.

About the Author:

Evan Fischer is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. He enjoys writing about the latest tech news for a variety of companies and discovering new and innovative gadgets.