Keep your kids safe in a smart way through smart parenting and use of technology to monitor your child’s activity
The parenting landscape has changed dramatically over the years. As technology continues to pervade nearly every aspect of our dally Eves, keeping children safe from online and offline can be an onerous task for parents of young children.
Young children often have access Lo mobile phones before their teenage years, making it their primary source of and depression.
According to a study conducted by the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights In 2021 59.2 percent of children in india own smartphones, but only 10.1 percent use them for online learning and education Though the internet is the best resource for learning the amount of content available online is increasing at an exponential rate. Many parents may become overwhelmed their efforts to protect their children from all the potentially harmful offensive or Inappropriate content available on the web.
Another study confirms the side effects. A 2022 report by global computer security firm McAfee found that approximately 85 percent of children in India have reported being cyberbullied making it the highest rate in the world. As a result, it is recommended that parents keep a close eye on their wards to ensure that children are protected and safe.
BECOMING MORE TECH SAVVY
While it can be difficult to keep track of your child’s online activities as questioning her would raise suspicion and may seem as invading her privacy. So Improve your technical knowledge to be a smart, tech-savvy parent.
Use mobile apps that monitor and block social media and online gaming,as well as provide alerts and reports. Keeping track of your child’s phone activities will keep you informed about their decisions and how to counsel them again on the harmful ones. Furthermore you can easily spot a scam and assist them in avoiding.
Parents today need to work on making the mobile phone child safe and friendly. A simple start can be with a digital safety contract with the child outlining the dos and don’ts. There is also a need to work at building communication with the child on their online presence.
Talk to your kids about everything including technology. Set boundaries particularly time boundaries. Explan how technology is enslaving us because of mindless use. Also, set a good example by not being on the phone continuously yourself. You need to work on building a real, dependable parent-child equations
In today’s worldmost bullying occurs online; as parents, we should be more attentive than ever to , the smallest nuances in our children’s behaviour.
Some red flags to keep an eye for are:
If there’s a sudden drop in their screen time,
if they avoid looking at their phone,
if they seem distant, angsty or constantly annoyed,
if they avoid social interaction with friends.
The most important thing for a modern parent is that their child feels comfortable talking to them freely, so they can do so whenever they need to.
A good way to get your children to open on a day-to-day basis is to find creative ways to start conversations, for example, when asking your child about their day, instead of “how was your day?” try “what was the best thing that happened today?” The more specific your questions are, the easier it will be for your child to volunteer information
