Monitor what kids watch, parents told

Shreya Bhandary

MUMBAI: In addition to students, parents too have received ‘holiday homework’ this year which is to be followed during their child’s school vacation. The assignment? Watching cartoons and animation shows that their children watch to better understand the content their kids consume and decide whether it is appropriate for children.

The move comes after several teachers noticed behavioural changes in children, who began attending physical classes in February after two years of online classes. Not only were some children showing off accents, but many were also back answering teachers and bullying others in their classes.

Taking matters into their hands, a handful of schools in the city shot out circulars.

“Much of the content on OTT platforms can be controlled by opting for parental locks. However, this too doesn’t help because, at present, the content available for children itself is very crass and illogical,” said Swati Popat Vats, president, Podar Education Network.

The Podar group runs several schools across the country, including Podar Jumbo Kids, a chain of pre-schools.

“We’ve told them that they can’t just stop children from viewing such shows, but instead take time to explain to them why such shows are not appropriate and slowly wean them off such shows,” added Vats, who is also president of the Early Childhood Association for Primary Education and Research (ECA-APER).

Education institutes that completely shut down in March 2020 following the nationwide lockdown reopened starting October 2021. After a brief shutdown in January, schools once again reopened to hybrid classes starting January 24, 2022.

“In February itself, as soon as schools reopened for physical classes, we received complaints from teachers of students misbehaving. We immediately got our school counsellors to look into the matter who soon realised that this stems from the cartoon shows children watch these days,” said Kavita Agarwal, director, DG Khetan International School, Malad.

The institute decided to write to all parents, and ask them to ensure better control of content viewed by their children.

City-based psychologist Seema Hingorrany told HT that in the last two months, she has been approached by parents seeking help with similar concerns. Not just a control over the content watched by the children, but she suggests parents to encourage children for outdoor activities over watching Tv/ipad or phones. “During the lockdown, parents didn’t realise how their decision to hand over a phone or ipad to children to keep them busy has now turned into an obsession. My advice is to engage children in physical activities and slowly wean them off the dependence on TV or phones,” she added.