Valerie Mmanthe Mampshika,[Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English].
Monitoring your child’s cell phone
The power is in your hands
Cell phones are popular with kids, especially tweens (a group between children and teenagers) and teens. But many parents are not sure when it is appropriate for kids to have a phone. Unlike other parenting problems, most of us can’t think back to our own childhood to see how our parents handled this issue.
Most children ask their parents or guardians to buy them cell phones to fit in at school or in the neighbourhood with other children by discussing new apps such as Tik Tok and new games which they can install.
An advantage of getting your child a phone is that it lets you stay in touch with them at almost all times in cases of emergencies and with teens parents can track their whereabouts to ensure their safety.
One of the disadvantages can be cyber bullying whereby your teen can be teased by people using hateful comments to make them feel bad about their appearance for instance.
As a psychology student who works with teens day in day out I would encourage parents to be strict when it comes to their cellphones by ensuring that they install apps which they can use for school such as “Jolly Phonics” to learn English words,or Maths apps to improve their learning at home,and before they get their phones as a form of a reward their homework should be done daily,and lastly cellphones should NEVER go to school because they lose concentration in class and they start searching for unnecessary things on the net.
Most importantly if your child is below the age of 13 make it a point that you link their gmail address to yours as the parent or guardian for you to have the ability to approve apps which they would like to download.The power is in your hands,if the phones lead them astray then take it away (excuse the pun!).
#Spirit_Sundays with Valerie Mampshika ☺
#Spirit_Sundays with ValM
#ThePowerIsInYourHands
#TakeThePhoneAway
