Safety First: How Mindfulness Helps Your Kids Stay Safe Online and Offline

Hi, ??

How are you doing today? And how are your kids doing? ??

Why am I here today?

To talk about ‘safety’. Yes, “National Safety Day” was on the 4th of March. ?? National Safety Day serves as a reminder of the ongoing need to prioritise safety and health. It highlights the need for us to provide safe and healthy environments. In India, this day is observed to raise awareness of the safety protocols for people’s safety on the roads, in healthcare, workplace and in the environment. It is celebrated in honour of remembering the industrial accident victims along with promoting safety measures and practices for them.

As parents, what is your number one priority? Your kid’s safety and well-being, whether Online or Offline. We can’t always be with our kids, isn’t it? How about we teach and prepare our kids to be aware of their own safety and take appropriate action in times of need with the help of mindfulness?

The human mind is always full of a cluster of thoughts and feelings. In such scenarios, focusing on a particular task with dedication and concentration gets tricky if your mind is not sorted. Take a pause and think whether your ‘mind’ is ‘full’ or you are ‘mindful’.

Mindfulness is a technique that helps to be in the present moment without thinking about past thoughts or worrying about the future. In mindfulness, all you have to do is to focus on what is happening within and outside you. Focus on what you are looking at, hearing, and sensations in your body, feel your body parts and skin, feel the texture of the surface, and focus on the taste of the food you are eating.

Let’s see how mindfulness helps in self-safety:

• Potential dangers: Kids and teens are always on the run. You can never see them sitting idle unless they are sad or heartbroken. We should make our kids aware of what is happening in and around them and get them aware of the potential risks and dangers such as road accidents, and internal or external injuries. Mindfulness helps us to be calm and focused on what is happening within and around us. If your kid is mindful of themselves and their surrounding, he/she will be able to respond to the situations.
• Sensing something unnatural: While you getting your kid to prepare to face things, make them aware of some situations like someone following them on the road, trying to touch them inappropriately, or someone older trying to befriend them in their parents/caregivers' absence, a stranger tries to gift them something, someone asks them to meet them alone, someone who touches them inappropriately. Once you brief them on the potential danger, do let them know about the Do’s and Don’ts.
• Trusting the instincts: Prepare your tween well enough so that they can respond to their instincts. Trusting the instincts always acts as a saviour. Sensing danger, threat, or any abnormal situation is an important survival skill. It can help protect us from harm and allow us to take appropriate action to avoid dangerous situations.
• Reporting: Post observing any unsafe activity, the next step is to report such activities to a truthful human being, necessarily to the parents. If your teen/tween is mindful, he/she can use their enhanced cognition to inform and report the mishappenings, abuse, bullying, and accidents.
• Self-defence: Self-defence is a life skill where one has to protect themselves from any type of harm. A person can’t defend themself if they are not mentally present at the moment. They need to be able to focus on minute details and the actions of others and take necessary action to save themselves from any dangers, predators, or anyone who wants to harm them physically.

As parents, it is our responsibility to ensure the safety of our children both online and offline. With the increasing use of technology in our daily lives, it is essential to educate our children about the potential dangers they may face online. Parents should actively monitor their children's online activities and set guidelines for safe internet use. This includes setting privacy settings on social media, limiting screen time, and discussing appropriate online behaviour. It is also crucial to teach our children about the importance of never sharing personal information online and how to recognize and avoid online predators.

Sending you good vibes,

Bonani Gupta (She/her)

Counselling Psychologist

Trumsy

Trumsy Corner:

• To know the ‘5 types of Cyberbullying’, watch this… 5 forms of cyberbullying one can experience online | Trumsy
• To know ‘5 healthy habits for teens to engage in online safety’, watch this… Five healthy habits for teens, to ensure online privacy | Trumsy

Trumsy Corner:

• Podcast Alert: “Parents ki Paathshala”, Season 1, Episode 1: iPad Humari mata hai, aage kuch nahi aata hai. Listen now!
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