School districts are doing everything they can to ensure students have equal opportunities for learning during the pandemic. One of the measures many are taking is to provide Chromebooks to all students who need them to access digital education. So you might find yourself with a new Chromebook in your home.

A delicate piece of equipment in a home with children -- what could possibly go wrong?

Jokes aside, every parent can tell you that where there are children (particularly young, energetic ones), mishaps occur. Spills, scrapes, bruises and falls come with the territory. Things get damaged. So here are some common-sense tips on how to protect the Chromebook while it’s in your home.

1. Keep It Safe During Use

To avoid damaging the Chromebook, encourage your child to use it on a flat surface, like a desk or table. Just as importantly, keep food and drinks away from it. Spills happen. It’s best if they happen far away from expensive and delicate equipment that your child needs to keep connected to learning.

2. Store It Properly

When closing the Chromebook, coach your child to do a double-check and make sure there’s nothing on the keyboard (e.g. a stray pen) to avoid damaging the screen. Urge them to store it on a flat surface. The floor doesn’t count -- obvious to you but perhaps not to them -- as a misstep could lead to catastrophic damage. Likewise, when you charge it, make sure the cable is in a low-traffic area of your home to avoid tripping.

3. Handle It With Care

When carrying the Chromebook, use both your hands and keep it closed. Using both hands makes dropping it far less likely, while keeping it closed minimizes damage in case it does take a fall.

4. Invest in a Chromebook Case

If your district doesn’t provide you with a Chromebook case, it may be worth investing in one. There are some great products out there, and they’re far less costly than a repair might be. MAXCases can help, with a wide range of options available for fast and easy purchase on amazon.

5. Keep Your Kids Safe Online

Now, we’ve talked about protecting the Chromebook from damage, but there’s another topic that’s equally important, if not more so - making sure your kids are safe online.

There are no “one size fits all” solutions here, and how you choose to handle this will depend on your child’s age and your parenting style. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• How much screen time will you allow?

• Which websites should be allowed and which should be banned?

• Are you going to ban certain websites, or are you going to talk to your child about which websites they should or should not visit? (Here’s a tip from us: whether you choose to ban certain sites or not, have this talk with your child. They have friends, after all, and they might come into contact with content you prefer they didn’t see through them. Having a frank and open conversation will help them understand your values and the reasons behind your requests.)

• How are you going to communicate with your child about behaving responsibly online? (passwords, leaving personal information, talking to strangers on social media, the permanence of things they post online…)