When children grow up, the biggest challenge is to acquaint them with new words and, often, it’s difficult to control what words are being assimilated by youngsters.
Child specialists say that children learn a lot of words by listening to TV and conversation between adults. Therefore, adults have to talk with caution when they are in front of children.
Parents need to monitor the words that enter into the mind of children. Children usually come in contact with words like ‘alcohol’, ‘rape’, ‘extramarital affair’, ‘drugs’ from papers read by parents and may want to know the meaning.
Specialists say that the explanation has to be done with patience and as per the age of the children.
Children need to be taught that sexual organs are just like any other body part, said pre-teen trainer Farhana Mannan.
Saying it’s difficult for children before the age of eight to differentiate between positive and negative words, it’s the duty of the guardians to provide an explanation to suitable words, said Farhana.
From age five, children develop a curiosity towards outside words and the guardian has to be alert as to what the child is hearing.
Sometimes, children learn expletives from the playing field and so, the parents have to be cautious.
Child right activist, Nayeem Gowher, says: “In our society, children grow up in an adult’s environment; the children’s page in papers also contain adverts for films.”
Sometimes, when children ask questions they are not supposed to know, we admonish them but this is not the right approach, added Nayeem.
Executive director of Management and Resource Development Initiative, Hasibur Rahman Mukul, says: “We are constantly monitoring if the images, words, language presented before children are proper or not; we have also made some guidelines which have been accepted by media houses.”