Have technology advances made the world of a child insecure? Blaming television shows and pointing fingers towards their faults will not solve their adolescent problemsHow to handle peer pressure and adolescent issuesHow parents’ can, through their behaviour, become an ideal for their children

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These and many such issues were discussed at the workshop ‘No kidding’ organised by DNA along with Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital and Research Centre on Saturday in the wake of the Shubham Shirke kidnap-and-murder case.

The experts showed parents ways to handle their adolescent children by becoming one with them rather being a watchdog over them. Dr Rashmi Gapchup suggested that it is the age when the child starts thinking and gets aggressive about his or her views.

During this time, parents must not be in the role of a watchdog. Gynaecologist Pratibha Kulkarni said there has been a change in adolescent children then and now. Earlier, parents would be their idols as they saw them struggle and cope with life.

Psychologist Pallavi Inamdar presented a survey of students from standard VII and VIII on their reaction to an incident in which a student died while imitating a stunt. They felt the child was at fault since he couldn’t differentiate between the real and reel world. The TV serials promote violence and are imitated.

Parents should tell children which serials to watch, but students felt there were no serials made for them.

Gynaecologist Shubhangi Kanitkar spoke on how the concepts of celebrations are changing over the years. Earlier, on new year, children would watch some entertaining programme on television along with friends or family, have dinner and then burst a firecracker. Nowadays parties are thrown where food, drinks and at times drugs are freely available. These are the parties where children fall prey to peer pressure.

Teacher RJ Patankar said, ‘’Violence is increasing these days at every place. It could be the stabbing of a teacher, father assaulting his own daughter (Afreen case). Computer games show blood and killing. The minds of the children are blank and thus they imitate such acts in real life.”

Gauri Deshmukh, educationist spoke on punishment to the children. She said, “Instead of punishing him or her in a negative manner, we need to understand the child and through dialogue and in a positive way handle the problem.”

Psychiatrist Swati Joshi spoke on why children take drastic steps like suicide. She said impulsive behaviour is seen in such children from the very beginning. Depression is mostly the reason behind such drastic behaviour. “I believe by promoting wellness, open communication, quality and quantity time should be spent with them,” she said.

Paediatrician Suneel Godbole said, “We need to go to the root of the problem rather than deal when it comes. Teach forgiveness and I believe the playground is the best place to teach them about winning and losing and controlling their behaviour.”