Some disturbing material has been circulating the various social platforms this week, do you know where your child is looking?

I enjoy a good surf across Facebook, I like to keep up to date with educational happenings and professional development via Twitter. I am involved in various Whatsapp groups and still Anna and I make plenty of mistakes with our kids online. 

Recently some friends of ours let us know that our girls were on Tik Tok, we were aware of this. What we were not aware of was the lyrics in the music they were dancing too, after chatting with the girls they are no longer on Tik Tok. They were oblivious to what they were listening too, this I can accept. What I have struggled with was that I was in the very room they were dancing along to these lyrics and I was oblivious to what they were listening too.  

In speaking with friends and colleagues that have older children, social media is a constant in children's lives. The pressure of waiting on 'likes', being included in group chats, and receiving comments on posts raises issues for all children on these platforms. We are naive to think that this will not affect our children in the future so we need to be having conversations now with them.

Where we are lucky is that our community looks for opportunities to look after each other. Hands up not hands out. Supporting those families around you that may need assistance from time to time. This is the Wakari community and a major reason why our school is a fabulous school, is due to its tamariki and staff.

Writing a newsletter is easy, parenting is not.

As always if I can be of assistance please drop in to see me.

Regards 

Chris