Shraddha Pandey | Newer threats to kids emerging, parents must be alert, keep vigil

Today our children are safer due to progress in the medical field and technology but millennial parents have continuous, real and novel challenges in the way in which they provide care and security to their wards.

Newer threats, nefariously designed to attract and impact the minds of children of all ages, from toddlerhood to teenage years, do exist. These threats are not clearly discernible and so awareness is the first step.

Threats are now lurking for children on apps like YouTube Kids. There are more than one lakh accounts on YouTube Kids made by child predators targeting children. These accounts upload videos in which animated characters are stimulating sexual acts, stripping, injecting drugs, displaying suicidal themes, etc. The predators also leave comments on these videos trying to get in touch with kids.

Safety at preschool/daycare: Today many children are in the care of nannies and daycare establishments. Recently, news of an incident related to a play school in Mumbai came to light. One child’s father had noticed the anxious behaviour of his child and decided to check the school’s CCTV footage. The footage revealed shocking scenes of teachers manhandling the students. The clip of kids being beaten went viral and an FIR was filed, the teachers were arrested and denied bail.

Advertising agencies: The food industry looks at children as consumers. Food products full of sugar, preservatives, colour and artificial flavours are advertised as products which enhance growth and health. Consuming highly processed foods full of salt and sugar leads to sugar and salt addiction, early menarche, emotional eating and also paediatric obesity. Paediatric obesity may lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, at a later stage.

Tobacco industry: Equally sinister are the designs by the tobacco industry. “Bubble gum” and “cotton candy” are among the flavours of e-cigarettes which are available for sale. These flavours clearly indicate whom these products are targeting. Studies show that two-thirds of all smokers pick up the smoking habit below the age of eighteen years and 95 per cent of all smokers started smoking below 24 years of age.

Forty per cent of India’s population is between 15-24 years of age and the tobacco industry is methodically targeting this age group. The future of the tobacco industry banks upon this group picking up the tobacco habit as it will form the replacement smokers.

Grooming of children: In an interview, child molester Jack Reynolds, who had molested more than 300 boys in the 1980s, described how he selected his victims for grooming and how he groomed them. He described how he would select the less privileged (as ascertained by their clothes) children who did not have strong father figures and were not likely to tell their friends. He would act as a kind and caring uncle, meeting the kids routinely in parks and other places, making a good impression on parents and children. He would act a hero before the neglected children and struggling single mothers, offering to take the child away for a night.

Grooming of teenagers: Grooming on gaming apps is a silent terror looming from within the mobile phones of teenagers. Bad elements use gaming apps to groom youth. It all starts with innocent conversations and friendships, trying to create trust with the victim. Young people who do not have sounding boards and support systems at home may be more vulnerable to these connections. Friendships developed on gaming apps ultimately move to the social media. It’s easy to make video calls using Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp applications. Some youth may develop deep feelings of friendship or even love for the person across the screen, some may agree to anti-national demands made by the friend or paramour. There have been cases of youth leaving their homes with an intention to move across borders after being convinced by their social media friends to do so. These friendships may lead to human trafficking or be used by terrorists as lone wolves and handlers.

Two cents for parents: Careful supervision of media consumed by the children is very important. We also need to ensure thorough scrutiny of any institution before enrolling our smaller children with any caretaker as well as routine monitoring of CCTV footage. We need to be aware about any changed behaviour of our children.

Parents need put a check on all kinds of processed food entering their homes. Processed foods such as cakes and chocolates should not be treated as rewards for good behaviour or a bribe to enforce discipline or make a child stop crying. They must be normalised as unhealthy foods to be consumed once in a while, but nothing special. Parents must lead by example by avoiding smoking and by eating fresh and local foods.

One of the biggest gifts we can give our children is the motivation be physically active. The benefits of exercise are well known and lead to a fit body, active mind and a pleasant persona. It is also the best antidote to overthinking, an undeniable malady of our time. It also frees up from excessive dependence on screen and food when a child is bored.

No matter what we do, we cannot constantly monitor our children, so we must ensure that they have a high conscience, integrity, strong character and confidence. We must equip them with autonomy so that they are able to distinguish between right and wrong. We must train them to say “No” when they aren’t convinced by any proposal. Most important, we must regularly speak to them and provide a safe home environment so that they can bare their hearts and souls to us every time.