In this week’s edition of Where Parents Talk with Lianne Castelino on 105.9 The Region, author, speaker and mom Dr. Devorah Heitner discusses parenting in a digital world, and breaking down barriers through food with Rishma Govani, author, mom of two and communications professional.
Dr. Heitner is the author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World and founder of Raising Digital Natives.
In her first book, Sushi and Samosas, Govani, uses food as the vehicle to tackle such themes as cross-cultural acceptance, inclusion and diversity.
DR. DEVORAH HEITNER
Author, ‘Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive and Survive in Their Digital World’
Speaker
Mother of one
“It’s really important for kids to understand that what they follow is gonna is gonna affect them algorithmically. In terms of their privacy in terms of safety, a really important measure is just making sure kids are unplugged at night when their inhibition is lower. So that keeps them safe from making poor decisions when they are sleep deprived, and also keeps them from missing sleep, which is so crucial for adolescents physical and mental health.
The other thing is just keeping the line of communication open, and making sure that your child can talk with you about things, they see conflicts, they may, you know, become part of in a group text or social media fears that they have concerns they might have about a peer, they need to know that they can talk with you, and that you’ll be supportive and not judgmental, even if your child has shared something that they regret sharing like an explicit image. Rather than being punitive. You want to be on your child’s side and work with them to help solve the problem and keep them safe.”
RISHMA GOVANI
Author, ‘Sushi and Samosas’
Communications Professional
Mother of two
“I often think maybe one bite isn’t really fair to the food itself, maybe two or three, and then you really get a flavour of what you’re going to eat. And, and then if you don’t like it, you can walk away. But I’m really happy that you tried. And I think that’s sort of the echoes with the way that we’ve always parented. And that could be a sport, or, you know, trying something else.
In general, it doesn’t have to be around food, but you kind of try it, you can’t pass judgment and hate something that you haven’t tried before, because that’s really unfair. But it’s not a perfect world, I myself are am resistant, there are certain smells, or certain textures, so it’s always a self-check to make sure that I am exhibiting and role modelling the same.”
