Sometimes, it makes sense that we make a blog for kids. This is because the child or children we are working with or we are parents to would like to express themselves. A blog is the perfect vehicle for such expression, because it allows the child to be creative and also read and write. However, there are some issues attached to all of this. It is probably not a good idea to jump right into making a blog for kids without thinking through some of the attached issues first.
One thing you need to know before you decide to make a blog for kids is that the children of today know their way around a computer and they most probably know their way around the Internet too. This means that if you leave a child unsupervised while they are on the Internet you are probably leaving them vulnerable to all sorts of inappropriate content. This does not mean that the child will intentionally view inappropriate content, but they may see ads that are not quite appropriate for their age range, or see sites that come up as they surf for the intended sites. This means that unless you supervise the child while they are surfing or using the computer in general, then you are leaving yourself open to all sorts of future problems.
There is a flipside to that though. Basically, because a child knows their way around the computer, this means that they will quite easily manage the process of creating a blog once the basics have been explained to them. It is fair to say, actually, that they don’t really need too much guidance. This makes the setting up of the blog a lot easier than you may think it would be. Once you have set up some golden rules and guidelines for how and where they will surf, you are looking at a pretty fast process.
You also need to know that some of the largest platforms out there, like WordPress and Blogger, make it very clear that they do not allow under 13 year olds to use a blog for themselves. So if we want to make a blog for kids then we have to make sure that we are involved pretty much every step of the way. By all means allow them to have fun and to find their way around the whole thing, but you will need to be there to show that you are involved and to ensure that they are safe.
WordPress is perhaps the biggest blogging site out there, it boasts millions of users and it is highly functional. There are currently two versions of WordPress out there, a free one and one that you have to manage the hosting of and so on. With children, and when we want to make a blog for kids, it is probably best to go with the free-hosted version tat WordPress offer. This is because there are less options to worry about, and the children have the added safety of constant monitoring form WordPress themselves.
Blogger is another option that is available to us if we want to make a blog for kids. This service is free too, and is a lot more fun to use than WordPress. This makes it more attractive to younger people. Consider spending some time getting to know this platform before you commit to helping make a blog for kids on it. The work will pay off if you appear like an expert, and it will help to make things run a lot smoother if you know what you are doing.
Check out our article on Edudemic about how blogging can help reluctant writers.