Bringing up your children and wards these days is not an easy job because of a number of reasons. To begin with, today’s children are growing up in a different environment compared to children who grew up say around 20 to 30 years back. The internet and computer are major influencing factors. There is also no doubt that mobile telephony and advances in technology have also contributed to children going astray.
While there are many good things about the internet and mobile telephony, there are also quite a few bad things attached to these technologies. These technologies make children addicted to it and also expose them to the real dangers of cybercrime, stalking and other such dangerous things. Hence, it is important to find out ways and means to address this real problem in the best way possible.
Winning Trust And Confidence is Important
Parents often resort to sticks and other strong-arm methods of disciplining their kids. However, this is not always advisable because it might turn out to be counterproductive. It could lead to a buildup of frustration and it may not be long before the teenagers start revolting and then things will simply get out of control.
Hence, the best way is to sit down with the kids and treat them as friends rather than bossing over them as parents.
Show Interest in His or Her Friends
It also makes a lot of sense, as parents, to show more interest and involvement in the friends of your teenage son and daughters. However, this has to be done carefully and you should not seem to be intrusive.
As parents, you must get into the habit of inviting friends of your children to home as frequently as possible. Give them privacy and let them spend time in your home. By this, you will prevent the children from spending time out on the streets, bars or other undesirable places.
Make Intelligent Use of Technology To Keep A Tab
While the above two paragraphs deal with the emotional quotient of your teenage children, this alone will not work beyond a point. There should be intelligent monitoring of the children and this is where technology should be used. There are fantastic tools like Spokeo that can help parents to keep a tab on their wards without their knowledge. They come with a number of interesting features.
Some of them include reverse phone lookup and email search. That means only by searching with their phone number or email address you could get more details like their social media profiles, criminal records etc.
Try To Get Numbers Of People Who Are Close To Your Child
You also could make use of applications like Spokeo for one more purpose. With the consent of the child, it would be a good idea to gain access to some phone numbers with whom your child is close. You also could subscribe to these members and become friends with them on Facebook and other social media. This will help you to know more about the movements, activities, likes and dislikes of your children.
Quite often, the parents may be at fault because of their overzealous protection of their wards. These things can come to light with the use of the right applications and also being as networked as you possible can be as a parent.
Conclusion
Bringing up a child in the right manner is not easy and therefore it has to be a combination of stick, carrot and technology. Being a good friend, philosopher and guide to your child is without any doubt the best way to ensure that they do not go astray. A child, who confides with her dad or mom, is unlikely to look for other avenues to share their feelings and emotions.
Maguire Haigh is a content marketing manager for Spokeo. He is an expert in the business sphere. He prefers writing articles on marketing, social media presence, travel and startup topics. Maguire has great experience in travelling and deep knowledge of 5 foreign languages.