Children have more access to the internet today than they had fifteen years ago. It represents a challenge to parents: should they limit their child’s access to the internet and social media to protect them? Can this protection and supervision be, somehow, privacy violation? On one hand, it may seem too risky to allow a minor to have complete access to any website or app they want to.
There is a myriad of contents online and much of it is not appropriate for children. Therefore, unrestrained freedom to everything on the internet does not seem safe nor unharmful for a kid. We all have to and eventually will learn that the world is not all about flowers and kindness, but there is a fair time for that, in which one will be mature enough to deal with such matters.
With this in mind, the following question arises among parents: how much supervision is enough and okay? That is, how much do they need to control their child’s online navigation in order to keep them safe, but giving them freedom to develop their taste, arguments, and be fairly entertained?
The answer to this question is complex. There are many varying factors to reach the solution. First, we should know the child’s age. The younger, the more supervision is necessary, limiting apps and constantly verifying if everything is alright. If the child is older, they must be warned that the parents are supervising conversations and social media. As such, the child will not feel violated, because there was a previous conversation.
It must be clear for the supervised children the true intentions of their parents, which is not to spy on them or do anything sketchy, but to assure that their child is safe. In order to reach such understanding, communication is key. Parents should be open, as far as they can be according to their children’s age, about the reasons of the supervision and parenting control installed in the devices used by the family. Understanding the reasons for parenting control will result in greater acceptance by the child.
Children should always know they can be open and trust their parents. Parents should know that requiring honesty from their children is a two-lane road. You cannot expect honesty from someone without having an honest relationship with them. After all, if children cannot trust their parents - the first love and family one has in life -, they will have a hard time trusting anyone else, they will also be unresponsive when people pledge for their confidence and honesty.
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