Psychologist Selver Yazıcı said that children can be affected by the news they watch about child abuse and sexual harassment and move away from their relatives and said, “Parents can turn off the TV at the news time and watch it later.”
Stating that parents' communication with their children should be very strong, Psychologist Selver Yazıcı said, “We are very sad about the recent child abuse and sexual harassment in our country. In this sense, I would like to give some information about the measures that families can take. First of all, the communication between children and parents should be very strong. Because if you are in a strong communication, if your child trusts you, if he/she knows that he/she will not be reprimanded for any mistake he/she makes, if he/she learns to say no, if he/she knows that not everyone can see where his/her underwear is covered, if he/she knows that no one can touch him/her except his/her first-degree relatives such as parents or caregivers, we will have taken the beginning of these measures. Because these problems are generally experienced by relatives who are trusted or very trusted, the child starts by not being able to complain to the parents against this trusted person. It starts with touch, words, speech. Then, as long as the child does not speak out and does not complain to the parents, this situation progresses and leads to abuse.”
Yazıcı said that children can even distance themselves from their relatives after watching the news and added, “Since our agenda has been extremely sexual abuse recently, families are also watching these news. Children are also watching alongside them. Most of the children react very negatively to this news and become timid and fearful. They may have problems with close relatives, even with their father and brother. If you know how a child who has been subjected to abuse would behave, you can at least take precautions and protect children. We can protect children psychologically by not letting them watch these news as much as possible and keeping them away from these news as much as possible. Here, we may experience problems such as introversion in children, distancing from their relatives, constantly talking about this issue with their friends and wondering about sexual content, and since the internet is very much in the hands of children, we may have problems such as constantly researching these issues, being interested in these issues, or getting further away from these issues and creating traumas about the future life of the child.”
“TV can be turned off at news time”
Yazıcı said that the television can be turned off during the news hours so that children are not affected and that the news can be watched later, “Family communication is very valuable and very important here. Parents should do activities with their children. In this sense, we find it useful to keep children away from tablets and television as much as possible. Because news is generally seen either on the internet or on television. We can limit television, especially during news hours. Parents can listen to the news when the children are not around. Apart from that, while communicating effectively with the child, the screen should not be included in this. Because wherever there is a screen, the child's focus of attention moves further away from the current and routine life. The child who gets used to the screen starts to experience more deficiencies in daily life. Because they lose their daily skills. Therefore, in order to protect children, I recommend that parents turn off the news at news time and watch the news when children are not present.”
