More than 80 parents of lower primary children studying in CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls' School (Primary) attended the parents' cyber wellness workshop last Tuesday. While many of the children embarked on their exciting new journey into primary school life, the parents' were engaged and enlightened through the cyber wellness conducted by TOUCH Cyber Wellness.
Interesting and concerning questions were raised through the 2-hour workshop, and here are two of them:
"My child is in lower primary and is asking me for permission to sign up for a FaceBook account, especially so when almost all his classmates has an account. Should I let him have his own FaceBook account?"
"Would there be any suitable websites that is suitable for children in terms of good content?"
Q: My child is in lower primary and is asking me for permission to sign up for a FaceBook account, especially so when almost all his classmates has an account. Should I let him have his own FaceBook account?
TOUCH: Legally speaking, FaceBook account users must be above the age of 13 years old. However, it is also true that children today are starting out younger on social networks, especially so under peer influence or pressure. Thus, we would encourage that if parents who wish to allow their children to start up on social networks, they should embark on it TOGETHER with the children.
Whether it is games, social networks or technology, we strongly encourage parents to be prepared to commit time and effort to engage the children together in it. This is so that parents can provide guidance and accountability to their children in terms of Internet content and contacts.
If one is not ready to engage it together, then don't let the children start.
Q: Would there be any suitable websites that is suitable for children in terms of good content?
TOUCH: Again, parental involvement and supervision is important for children once they start out on the Internet. Even if it is good content, but there's always danger that child may get "hooked" in terms of excessive usage.
But having said that, some examples of healthy websites that parents can start off together with their children would be:
a) Totlol is a video website designed specifically for children. It is community moderated. It is constantly growing. It is powered by YouTube. The videos were submitted, screened and rated by parents.
b) FunBrain is an educational website providing games, comics, e-books and materials for kids and teachers.
c) KidSites is a reference site for parents to best kids' websites on the Internet.
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