THE introduction of the theme of my column today will be fully understood as the sturdy root from which all the items on children which I will mention here will be understood. I will give the model of a wholesome, ideal family life.
It is composed of a loving Father and Mother, the parents and their loving children, their sons and daughters. They are maintaining a decent, rightful life living in peace and harmony. This extends from the day a baby is born up to adulthood. A mother cares for and nurses her baby from the milk in her breasts, so intimate like no other. With the innocent baby it feels the filial love as the mother has unlike when you feed your baby with formula milk from a feeding bottle.
You have to experience this to know what I am talking about. From their cradles babies learn the language of love which they will carry till adulthood. As they grow they learn from their parents the norms of good conduct and moral being, upright, helpful, obedient, and cooperativeness. There is discipline tempered with love coming from their parents. Before schooling children learn first at home. These are good parents and we realize there will be no problem children if they have not been disciplined by their problem parents. The ideal family is the best main feature of a city or province and the whole nation at large, and the whole world at its widest range. This is the premise for the remaining items in my column today. Following are the children encounter with modern gadgets and the internets; the absentee parents in many homes.
All modern internet gadgets are a boom to our growing children; but sadly these are also a bane. You need not look far, it happens in every home. According to a scientific study, children mostly teens who are addicted to Internet games and social media contacts have mental health defects or disorders in their lives. Notice that even in our homes eating at table where usually we talk to one another about our life is lost. Every member of the family is busy reading his or her I Phone, cell phone, tablet, or IPad. Sure, there are ' mea culpas' from all of us. This robs us of the best camaraderie, which was usual before. With young ones, we cannot even censure what they are watching. These might be porn posted in the gadgets. These might be ocassions where they meet friends through postings leading to dates which become bad for their moral values.
In schools these gadgets become a big problem, too. This must not be permitted when it hinders students in thinking and resolving problems with their own personal research. This is especially true in mathematics. They must not use their calculators to know the answers without thinking about it. There are computer regulated tests in various subjects. I will tell you about my misadventures trying such tests. I am a professor of natural sciences and I tried answering a test on reproduction. The question was - Fill in the blanks. Reproductive cells are called_______. I answered “gametes.” I was marked wrong. Why? The computer wants me to answer “germ.” It does not accept “synonyms.” It wants me to think like the computer and what it wants. That is terrible. You become a slave to this machine. Now, we know how these modern gadgets can be useful. They are best for making research and composing your well thought- of conclusions. You use your intelligent brain to do this.
The problem of "Absentee Parents in Many Homes" is my next challenging topic. We had talked about "The Ideal Family Life in Their Home.” Now evaluate this situation. So many homes have children without their parents. This happens when wanting to earn a living to support the family needs, mother or father work abroad as OFWs. Worst if both they leave. The children are left to the care of relatives as their grandparents, aunties or uncles, older brothers and sisters pending for themselves using their parents' earnings from abroad. There only virtual relations are through the Internet or IPhones with their real parents.
There are the alarming impacts on the children's life with these situations. Reported is violence against children forced to commit cybercrimes engineered by scheming adults who take these opportunities to earn money. Children are asked to perform sex acts in the porn sex videos. In December 2016 the National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children with 3,866 respondents, aged 13 to24, coming from 17 regions in the Philippines. The sex videos are made without the consent of the involved minors. About 10% talk to their friends about suffering from physical abuse and enduring sexual abuse. Some remedial measured must be extended to these children by the agencies as DSWD and Council for the Welfare of Children.
Let us all take care of our children. We are duty bound to see to it that they are safe from the evils of modern society.
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