FLUs host session on ‘Technology and the Family’  

Today we live in the technological era, where the world is at our fingertips via the use of the internet; and it can be used for both good and evil.

On Saturday, January 27 the Family Life Units and Faith Formation of the Santa Cruz/Bourg Mulatresse/Maracas Bay Cluster continued to journey with families on ways to educate, support and promote healthy lifestyles away from the harmful effects of pornography on our children. They hosted the first educational session entitled ‘Technology and the Family’, facilitated by Nigel Bellemy.

One way we can monitor what our children are surfing on the internet is by configuring parental controls. A way this can be achieved is by having a separate router attached to the existing unit offered by your service provider. Depending on the brand and model installed, there are easy parental controls that can be configured.

Some features include: Letting them only see shows rated ‘family’ or which devices are connected and how long it has been connected. It is even possible to schedule the times during each day that the device can be connected to the internet or, depending on the age of your children, you can even prevent them from connecting to Facebook and Instagram as some social media sites like these are for 13 years and over.

Most importantly to enforce these controls and depending on the age group and technical intelligence of the children, you need to prevent them from having physical access to the router so either have it installed in your bedroom and /or locked away.

We as parents need to keep up with technology and provide the guidance to our charges, teach them respect and be a role model to them. – Suzette Richmond-Bell Smythe, parent & member of the FLU