By OGONNA OFFORJAMAH
Lagos- Reverend Father Christian Echewodo, Parish Priest of St. Anthony Catholic Church, Alagbado in Lagos State, has tasked parents on ensuring guidance on the use of cell phones by their children and wards.
Echewodo said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
He said that parental guide should be more on cell phones so that the child would not be influenced negatively.
“Every device should be protected, meaning that parents should install controls on tablets, mobile phones, handheld and home game consoles,” he said.
Echewodo advised parents to always to talk with their children, agree on good websites that they could visit and talk to them about it, as well as regularly reviewing to ensure that they did not access anything inappropriate for their age.
“Make sure to tell children they can talk to you if they see anything that is questionable online.
“Having an open relationship with children is essential and vital so they don’t feel like they will get in trouble, but they can learn what appropriate and inappropriate content is,” he said.
He also advised parents to ensure that their wards were not addicted to their phones because of the many dangers associated with it.
He said: “A cell phone can affect their learning process, can interfere with their ability to sleep and can prevent them from learning to cope in real life situations.
“Any age is okay for children to use phones as long as there is parental guide and a reason for them to use it.
“There should be an essence of using the phone. Is it for research work? Or tiktok? Is it to snap picture and post on social media?
“Is it to have a general knowledge of what is happening in the world today? There are so many negative ones and postive ones.” (NAN)
