Often 'technology in the home' means a parent working on their laptop in one room, while the kids play computer games or surf the internet in another. But technology isn't isolating - it can be used to bring families online together. Here is some great advice for parents, so it does not seem so daunting!

Embrace Technology

It may be hard to imagine when your child is running up huge mobile phone bills, but technology can be your friend instead of your enemy. Mobile phones and email serve as effective tools for communicating with your loved ones, and give your child a sense of independence while allowing you to keep track of them.

Encourage your child to keep in touch with family members via text and email. You can even make a game of sending emails to each other – use it as a theme for co-writing a story.

Join in the latest craze

Technology can also provide endless hours of fun. Until recently, family-friendly entertainment mostly meant watching a film or TV program, but these options have expanded with the release of a wide range of interactive games. There are games to suit everybody on consoles such as Nintendo Wii, Xbox or Playstation.

Try a game such as 'You’re in the Movies' on Xbox, where players act out different scenes and these are put together as a movie trailer for you to watch at the end.

If acting doesn’t float your collective boat, try a fitness-themed game such as Wii Sports on Nintendo Wii, where you can have a go at a variety of computerised sports from tennis to bowling.

You don’t even need to splash out and buy a games console. Instead try an interactive DVD game playable on a normal DVD player. A good option is the Scene It range of DVD board games which are based on popular film and TV series like Harry Potter and Friends.

Take it further

With technology on your side, you can really enhance family life. You probably already have a digital camera and maybe even a video camera. If you haven’t jumped on this bandwagon yet, it is worth considering. Digital cameras are now available at affordable prices and usually come with lots of space on a memory card, allowing you to easily record family occasions and create albums.

You might even consider taking your relationship with technology further and setting up a family blog or website. This is far less complicated than it sounds. Many internet packages and email accounts come with facilities for setting up a website, and if yours doesn’t then you can set up a blog for free on sites like Blogger and WordPress. These sites have ready-made themes to choose from so you don’t need any technical know-how and once you’ve set up your blog you can customise it with add ons and plug-ins.

Once your blog or website is set up, you can use it to post information about your family, photographs and even music and video content. Once set up, your site will be a convenient way of communicating with friends and relatives long distance.