Parents need to put their own phones away when with their children so that they can be fully present with the latter while talking, say psychologists
Pune: Parents of several students of the English-medium school where a boy (14) stabbed his classmate on Friday were at a loss as to how an issue around posting pictures on social media turned violent, but psychologists stressed teenage anger often developed quietly over humiliation, peer pressure and social media, and it was important to spot the warning signs. Because they will speak about it in school, “It is important to let them understand what happened. Because of the school’s carelessness, such incidents are not entirely. Because this happened cellphones should be banned, you can’t say just.
The school authorities said there was an altercation between two groups of students during an outing. Based on the circumstances at that stage, the matter was understood to have been resolved,” they said. A day on, the parent of a student of the same school said, “There have been perfunctory messages from the school without explaining what happened, which has led to rumours. Children should be taught the correct usage and monitored,” he said. The first and foremost thing, according to Joag, is not to use the language of punishment or see this incident from a criminal viewpoint. Did he understand the gravity of this situation and his actions, does he have guilt about his action, and then work on corrective measures,” said Joag, adding that parents need to build communication with him.
“The matter was addressed and apologies were exchanged between the students involved. The dispute stemmed from the boy posting videos on social media of some girl students dancing during a recent school picnic. Were his parents called? Was he and the girl counselled? How can a child attack his or her classmate like that? What if she had died? The school authorities are doing everything they can for safety. Cellphones during trips are a safety feature for the child. “This adolescent needs help — in the form of support from everyone — parents, school, peers and professional support too. One needs to understand why he did this, and then get into depth of understanding his patterns.
Second, if the argument over videos had come to light earlier, what did the school do? A Std IX student of a private school in Balewadi suffered multiple injuries when a classmate from another section allegedly stabbed her with a knife outside a classroom on Friday afternoon.