20
Sep, 2017

good parenting tips

The Digital world is increasingly becoming an important part of our life and the life of our children. Kids these days get a good part of their exposure to the world from some device or the other, becoming the targets of many evils. Hence, as a parent, it now becomes our duty to provide the correct guidance and protection as well inculcate better habits in them for their own safety.

Make no mistakes that there are tons of evil online and they come in all shapes, sizes, forms and types. The recent ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ is an example of such evils that lurk around in the web. These things often spread through ‘WhatsApp’ or even from word of mouth and if not kept a tap on, can lead to devastating consequences.

The good news is, healthy cyber habits are easy to maintain, provided a certain level of caution and vigilance is maintained.

Avoid Meeting Strangers Online

Often through anonymous chat rooms or through known social media sites, people indulging into paedophilia, cult activities, cyberbullying, adult webcam shows or identity theft can get in touch with unsuspecting kids. It is best to teach kids how to respond to these strangers if they get contacted by unscrupulous people online. They must first look for the stranger’s intentions and cut ties immediately if they are uncomfortable or unable to understand those intentions. The second step is always discussing such situations with parents or any trustworthy adult.

Online Manipulation

Growing up with so much accessible information online often confuses the kids as to what is right and what is not. Online predators take advantage of this confusion and try to manipulate kids into doing things and activities that they may not willingly indulge into. ‘The blue whale challenge’ is a good example of one such activity, it asks the kids to do one activity every day ending with committing suicide at the last day. Many children died all over the world and those who survived say they were intimidated by the people running the app and that harm would come to their family unless they do it. Such evil trends often go unchecked by parents, hence lastly the most effective deterrent against cyber threats is to keep a check on the online activities of your child by using online parental control tools.

Talk to your Kids

It is important to understand what your kids are going through. By guiding and making yourselves available to your kids you take away the risk of them feeling isolated in the difficult situation they are in. It is important not to judge them or demean them but rather empathies with them and show them the correct way.

The Internet is a wonderful yet dangerous place. Make sure your kids always get the best of the cyber world.

The Author

Sanjana Bhowmick

Sanjana is an ardent writer of the Cyber Security domain, and truly believes that ‘Pen is mightier than Sword’. She is a writer by day and voracious reader by night. She loves to keep herself updated with the avant-garde technological developments. When not writing, you can find her travelling to unexplored corners of the world or devouring Netflix.
Sanjana Bhowmick

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