Parents should monitor children’s activities
Dec 15, 2009
FROM THE EDITOR<br><br>With technology advancement, it is difficult to keep pornography from children. Families have computers, TV and newspapers at home.
FROM THE EDITOR
With technology advancement, it is difficult to keep pornography from children. Families have computers, TV and newspapers at home.
In Uganda, TV programmes are hardly censored by media houses. And even the media houses that run programmes that require parental guidance, run them at a time when children are awake.
To make matters worse, with increase in incomes, many middle income parents have bought more than one TV set in the house. You find a one in the children’s bedroom and another in the sitting room or the parents’ bedroom.
Counsellors warn that leaving a TV in the children’s bedroom can be dangerous because children watch anything they want when the parents are asleep. Therefore, the TV becomes your child’s teacher and companion.
It is holiday time. When parents are away working, children watch anything on TV.
However, it is not only TV that is flashing pornography in the face of children. Magazines, newspapers with adult content are in plenty and are sold at almost every street corner. Some of these end up in homes and children are reading them and are continually being exposed to pornography.
The million dollar question is: How can one keep their children off pornography in this era of technology? One weapon parents can employ is to keep the children off the TV by encouraging activities like book reading, essay writing or outdoor activities like gardening.
If that is difficult, experts advise that parents should spend time with their children and try and find out what bothers them. Parents could take leave in turns during the holidays.
Experts believe that when parents and children relate they communicate openly about issues and it helps children to get the correct information.
However, even with parental intervention the Government needs to come up with a strong law on dissemination of pornographic material in the media.
With technology advancement, it is difficult to keep pornography from children. Families have computers, TV and newspapers at home.
In Uganda, TV programmes are hardly censored by media houses. And even the media houses that run programmes that require parental guidance, run them at a time when children are awake.
To make matters worse, with increase in incomes, many middle income parents have bought more than one TV set in the house. You find a one in the children’s bedroom and another in the sitting room or the parents’ bedroom.
Counsellors warn that leaving a TV in the children’s bedroom can be dangerous because children watch anything they want when the parents are asleep. Therefore, the TV becomes your child’s teacher and companion.
It is holiday time. When parents are away working, children watch anything on TV.
However, it is not only TV that is flashing pornography in the face of children. Magazines, newspapers with adult content are in plenty and are sold at almost every street corner. Some of these end up in homes and children are reading them and are continually being exposed to pornography.
The million dollar question is: How can one keep their children off pornography in this era of technology? One weapon parents can employ is to keep the children off the TV by encouraging activities like book reading, essay writing or outdoor activities like gardening.
If that is difficult, experts advise that parents should spend time with their children and try and find out what bothers them. Parents could take leave in turns during the holidays.
Experts believe that when parents and children relate they communicate openly about issues and it helps children to get the correct information.
However, even with parental intervention the Government needs to come up with a strong law on dissemination of pornographic material in the media.