Keep a watch on what your child is viewing
abu dhabi — Hot and humid summer vacation means children spend most of the time indoors. In the digital age, it means spending hours with smartphones and laptops, and mostly without any parental monitoring or guidance. Doctors and association heads said mobile device addiction is a dangerous sign.
D Santosh Gurmukhdas Kumar, specialist in psychiatry at Universal Hospital, advocated smart use of the Internet.
The doctor highlighted the illeffects of social media. He said that children being Internet-savvy is good but it is also dangerous.
“The mind of children is formed by what they see or read on the various websites. Parents need to have control on what their children are seeing and reading on the Internet. Children need to be exposed to the right content,” Kumar said.
He noted counselling sessions with both parents and children help to create awareness about the dangers one could face in today’s society. The doctor laid the onus on openness in the child-parent relationship.
“It is always difficult for a child to judge strangers. If they fell into a trap and have a bad experience, then they need to have the confidence to frankly talk about the incident with their parents. A child should have the confidence to confide in a father or mother when they face an issue. They shouldn’t be afraid of speaking out,” Kumar added.
When it comes to spreading word of caution, Indian Ladies Association has frequently held workshops to create awareness among housewives, working moms and children.
Sunita Wagle, president of the only registered women’s association in Abu Dhabi, said social media has its bane and boon, and it is imperative that both parents and kids are made aware of the dangerous trends.
“We conduct workshops where children and parents are trained to tackle such situations. Recently, we had a cyber awareness workshop, which focused on cybercrimes. There are many social media trends that children follow without understanding the hidden dangers,” Sunita said. “We do not prepare our kids for any difficult situations. We always think such situations may not befall on our children. We should inform them of the physical abuse and different forms of dangers in society and equip them with training to tackle such situations.”
She pointed out social media forums like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are very popular among children, where sharing of intimate information or photos are a rage, and all this isn’t a heathy trend.
“We find children casually using mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other gadgets from a very young age. They don’t know about the crimes and dangers involved, and neither do their parents have awareness to monitor their children. We had conducted a workshop in association with Emirates Safer Internet Society (E-Safe) and Community Police to alert the parents about the dangers involved. The session also helped prepare children tackle a particular situation,” Sunita said.
She noted the association has planned many awareness programmes in the near future.
St Joseph’s School student counselor Prajitha Naiju said it is not just children and parents but everyone needs to be careful these days as social media is influencing people both in positive and negative way.
We do not prepare our kids for any difficult situations. We always think such situations may not befall on our children.” Sunita Wagle president of the only registered women’s association in Abu Dhabi