Experts In The Fields Of Cinema, Storytelling, Psychology And Cybercrime Share Valuable Parenting Tips

Allow your children to spread their wings and fly

Khushbu Sundar, Actor

Many parents decide what route they want their children to take when their kids are very young—engineering, medicine, science, and so on. But parents need to let their children follow their dreams. It's fine for children to take a gap. Be supportive. Allow your children to spread their wings and fly higher, rather than clip their wings and say this is the limit. And remember, children's interests can change from time to time. For instance, my elder daughter was a gold medalist in science in Class 9. But then she did a culinary course in London. Now, she's studying fashion design. Had I said No, you have to take up only science, she wouldn't have been comfortable.

One valuable lesson I have learned in my parenting journey is that parents must listen to their children. As parents, we think we're always right. We generally say, "You are a kid. What do you know? I am the parent, I know better." But no, you can be wrong. Parents do make mistakes. When we listen to our children, we understand their way of thinking. Times have changed. I am glad that my kids belong to this generation, and have the courage to question and get their point of view across.

Khushbu Sundar is a film actress, producer, and television presenter. For the complete interview, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Tr-nA5vUg&t=885s

Benefits of storytelling

Geeta Ramanujam, Storyteller, and Story Coach

I think it's very important to tell stories to children. Children have a sense of wonder. They have curious minds that are filled with questions. Most of our scientists, explorers, and discoverers were all curious right from their childhood. Why is there lightning? Why is the sky blue? Why is it limitless? Why is the crow black? Who created the birds? These curious minds just cannot take data for an answer. For instance, you cannot tell them the bird variety, the species, and the genus. It becomes boring for them.

However, if you tell them a story and then tell them the facts, they'll be more interested. Children have very imaginative minds. They can see the story happen. Once they visualize the story, it stays with them for a lifetime. A story can be the best tool to impart knowledge to children. They'll listen and learn at the same time. You have to see what is suitable for the child pedagogically and tell stories accordingly.

Geeta Ramanujam is the founder of Kathalaya, a renowned academy of storytelling. For the complete interview, visit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9B2D_o2dJ8&t=30s 

 Screen Time and Children

Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, Psychologist 

How much screen time is too much? This varies from individual to individual. When excessive use of screens leads to a feeling of exhaustion and fatigue and affects productivity, then it means you're experiencing digital burnout. Young children can experience fatigue after just one or two hours of screen use. After every 30 to 40 minutes of screen use, your child should try to take a break. It may not always be possible, especially when online classes are going on. But taking your eyes off the screen and looking at the floor or wall for a couple of minutes can help. You can ask your child to blink slowly 10 times, and move the head forward, backward, and sideways slowly five times.

Also, when your child is studying, they may be tempted to check social media or check for messages from their friends. When they go back to studies, it takes three to five minutes to get back to the same level of concentration. So, this affects their retention capacity. Instead, ask your child to take scheduled breaks. For instance, after 45 minutes of study, they can take a break and check their phone.

Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma runs the SHUT (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) clinic at NIMHANS, Bengaluru. For the complete interview, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ58-bE1jLQ&t=193s

Children and Cyber Crime

Dr Debarati Halder, Cyber Law Expert

If parents find out that their child is involved in any unethical activity online, first they must counsel the child and ask them not to panic and make sure they don't do any self-harm. Then, parents must take a screenshot of the content, save it (avoid cloud storage), and then delete it from social media. Parents must ask their child not to re-share the content with anyone. Also, they need to know that there's something called vicarious liability, which means that the parents may be held responsible for the misdeeds of their child. But if parents take action as soon as they can and prevent their child from creating and spreading more offensive content, and they get their child to accept the misdeed and apologize, then the criminal liability of the child as well as the parents may be reduced. Parents can also contact the victim and their parents and tell them that their child has done a misdeed, and assure them that the offensive content is being taken down immediately.

Dr Debarati Halder is a cyber victim counselor, author, speaker, advocate, and legal scholar. She is the managing director (honorary) of the Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling (CCVC). For the complete interview, visit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PcDH12vTvw