If you get into a time machine and go back to a decade ago, you would see children enjoying in the playgrounds, watching Cartoon Network, or playing Mario. But today, everything has changed! Our children are now millennials – yes, millennials in every possible way. They are growing digital, breathing in the cyber world where their lives revolve around social media.
That’s what our children’s lives look like, and that’s what parents have to deal with. Yes, penetration of digital media in our children’s lives has not only changed their living patterns but now parenting requirements have also changed.
Now, parents not only have to keep an eye on the academics and friends circle of children but also have to keep a check on them even if they are sitting in their rooms. You never know what your child is doing, watching and browsing on their cell phone. That’s why today’s parents have to step up their parenting game to cope up with the digital landscape and assist their children in learning healthy digital usage.
If you are a parent, worried about the safety and upbringing of your child due to digital media, here are some tips and suggestions for you:
Set Up Media Use Plan:
Let’s admit that the media is everywhere and you can’t eradicate media from children’s life altogether. Let your children use the media because if you do not allow them, they will find other ways to consume it in unhealthy ways. Obviously, you don’t want it. But you can make a media use plan that should include how much time to spend on different media, when and where it should be used. Take suggestions from your family members, take everyone’s consent, and where needed, use your parent card to include healthy points in the plan. Make sure to include healthy family activities to ensure that the family spends a healthy time together, away from the screen.
Keep a Check on Screen Time:
No matter how many rules you imply on media usage time, once your child is on the media, he is on the media. Your child doesn’t require much time if he/she has to indulge in wrong activities on the internet. A second is enough for things to go wrong as everything is just one click away now! So, keep a check on the virtual world of your child as you do in the real world. Create a friendly environment and learn about their social media friends, online interests, apps they use and the sites they visit.
But if you are a working parent, then it might be difficult for you to keep a check on children’s media usage habits 24/7. In this case, you can install parental control apps like Famisafe to keep a check on your child’s media usage remotely. After all, prevention is always better than cure!
Guide Your Child:
Don’t hesitate, or wait for your child to grow up to talk to them about online threats. The moment your children start using media, it automatically turns into the perfect age to talk to them about plausible media online hazards.
Ask them to not communicate with strangers, no matter how many likes they give on their post. Tell them to not expose their private life too much, and ask them to apply privacy filters. Moreover, do talk about refraining from using unethical sites and their mental and behavioural consequences.
Parenting in this age is not at all easy, but not impossible. Your planning and meticulous check on your child can help you win parenting game even at this age.
