Parents need to acquire digital parenting skills
We need to ensure that children are protected as they navigate the digital landscape safely and responsibly.
School holidays are here and millions of children are spending long hours at home away from their watchful teachers and most likely away from their busy parents.
This is such a nightmare with most parents because the holiday time presents inherent dangers with children at risk of accessing harmful content domiciled in various online platforms at their disposal.
In the rapidly evolving global landscape, internet is an exceptional tool for people of all ages to learn, play and connect with family, friends and those with similar interests. However, just like the outside world, the digital world can pose significant dangers. Social media can be used to sexually exploit children, promote self-harm to children, incite violence, put people’s safety at risk and foment hate which is why parents must be empowered with digital parenting skills to protect children from online harms.
Digital parenting entails the parental efforts and practices for comprehending, supporting and regulating children’s activities in digital environments. In this day and age, you will agree with me that parents have a shared responsibility of equipping their children with the basic knowledge required to navigate through the information age that we live in.
Digital parenting identifies the main approaches that can allow parents to determine children's activities with digital technologies, how best parents should introduce their children to technology and at what age.
This demonstrates that the contemporary parent needs empowerment on how to navigate the disruption that technology has introduced in modern households. In other jurisdictions, schools are actively partnering with parents and children in digital parenting drives to make the online world a safer, more positive place for families and children. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the Annual Digital Parenting Week started back in October 2020.
Founded by Parent Zone, a parenting organisation, the Week appreciates the efforts exerted by parents to raise children, especially within the confines of the internet which has rendered parenting a truly complex endeavour.
As digital literacy spreads its wings across Kenya, a peaceful and stable domestic order remains an imperative especially where our children are concerned. Parents should therefore equip themselves with online safety tips such as spending time online together to teach kids appropriate online behaviour at the same time bookmark children's favourite sites for easy access.
As a parent, it is not only good practice to check your credit card and phone bills for unfamiliar account charges, it is also appropriate to keep the computer in a common area where you can watch and monitor its use, not in individual bedrooms. Monitor time spent on smartphones or tablets and find out what, if any, online protection is offered by your child's school, after-school centre, friends' homes, or any place where your children could use a computer or smartphone without your supervision. Most importantly, take your child seriously if he or she reports an uncomfortable online exchange.
Mr Nyantino is the CEO, Intent Media Africa. [email protected]
