How to keep our children safe in this age of Cyber World? (Boy, 17 years)
At 17, it would be important to have a discussion about 3 very important aspects.
- Creating a positive self image and online presence
- Interacting responsibly with the other sex
- Avoiding trolling
You can highlight the importance of etiquette here.
What is the screen time limit for today's teens - 13 to 19 years?
One must remember that this generation is born in the age of social media, so we can’t not allow them. A good conversation about responsible behaviour, and taking responsibility would help.
What is the best way to monitor device use? And how to make them self responsible so eventually monitoring is not needed? (Girl, 12 years)
There are many apps like ekawach to monitor. But an open and non judgemental approach is best. She should know that my parents are ‘with’ me.
Should any limits be set for usage of phone?
As they are teens, you should ideally make it a conversation and make a deal. ‘Telling’ doesn’t help.
I have 2 daughters aged 10 and 8 they both want to watch TV. Earlier they were addicted to cartoons so I locked the cartoon channels and now they can eat with whatever is going on TV. There main motive is to watch TV, but if I switch off the TV then they went for PC that we have at work home. I was asking my husband to lock it also but then also they will again stick to TV. Please tell me what should I do?
You can set timings for younger kids. One hour after all work for the day is done. This includes total screen time, whether its TV or computer. They can choose.
Can you give some tips for keeping children safe without monitoring?
- Open door policy
- Keep channels of conversation open
- Encourage sharing. That way they will share good and bad stuff.
Will they follow if we fix for a time limit?
It’s tougher in today’s age. They do use the phone for completing school work and keeping in touch with friends. If we can have a discussion (two-way) and strike a deal, it may be possible.
I have an 8 year old son. He is a mobile addict. I have reduced his screen usage to one hour now. But want to reduce more bringing that down to zero. How should this be done?
Can you have a discussion and explain your concerns to him? Strike a deal about using it when he’s out and you need to be in touch with him and on weekends, maybe.
Can you please explain that we should strike a deal in what sense? Can you give some examples.
Strike a deal means mutually agreed upon timings. We, as parents, tend to ‘tell’ the children. Instead, can we express our concerns and ask them how much time they feel they can use the phone without ruining their schedule? One can ask younger children who seem to be getting addicted to create a diary where they log in and out timings. That will give them a visual of how much screen time they’re taking. I hope we realise that we are the ones responsible for getting them addicted to a screen in the 1st place. Best way to keep them busy when they were younger and we were busy with something, was to give them the phone or put them in front of the tv. We see 2 year olds navigating the mobile phones so easily these days.
What aspects should I take care of with my 15 year old daughter's use of the internet. She is on Insta and loves playing PubG.
Do talk to her about what kind of pictures she is sharing. Online pictures can be misused for morphing. Follow her on Insta. Tell her you trust her, but would like to keep her safe. Make non- judgemental conversations with her. Learn how PubG works from her. Those with daughters, especially, need to build a trust relationship as a lot of girls experience harassment online and don’t know how to deal with it.
What precautions to take if my kid wants to have a YouTube channel and post videos? (Girl, 12 years)
I think the minimum age is 13 years for YouTube. So ask her to wait till then. Before she starts, ask her to research the pros and cons of posting online. (Monitor this activity). Monitor what content she wants to post. In fact, better if you do.
My son also wants to be a Youtuber. He has a YouTube channel too, where he makes videos based on Minecraft. This takes up a lot of his time, almost 2-3 hours a day and more on weekends!
He’s going to be reaching board years. You may need to ask him to start planning his time table so that he doesn’t suffer in his studies. If his grades are dropping, then you need to have a good conversation. Strike a good deal.
Anupama Pradhan – How to Keep Your Kids Safe On The Internet
Anupama Pradhan is a certified NLP Master Practitioner, Trainer and Life Coach. She is the founder of Inner Shift, an organisation that aims to help individuals realise their highest potential. She has been an educator for many years and is also a certified trainer from Dale Carnegie India. She conducts soft skills training and NLP based workshops that help people to transform thoughts and develop positive mindsets. For the past 5 years, she has also been conducting safety training on behalf of Mitkat Advisory Services, a security management consultancy, and has also often addressed parents and students on online and offline safety. Anupama Pradhan’s expertise lie in Online safety, creating positive mindsets, positive parenting, Creating gender neutral homes.
The Session
Anupama Pradhan – How to Keep Your Kids Safe On The Internet will be the topic where she will be taking the session at 5To15 event.