The role of being a parent can be complex one, and with no manual as to how to bring up children we are frequently left to our devices or, worse-still, we follow what others are doing or what we read about. This humouristic take by The Economist on the different styles of parenting common in different countries and cultures is realistic. However, the serious conclusion of this entertaining piece is that children should neither be the kings of the roost, nor protected from the world by their parents, or bragged about on social media. Young children need to learn the values of hard work, learn how to relate to others, embrace differences and aspects of each culture and help create a more inclusive society. As this education relates to technology we also need to teach our children how to use this wisely. Escudo Web´s two smartphones (Blabloo for Europe and Geniora for Asia) help a parent educate their children, converting the phone into whatever tool they need for specific moments of the day (e.g. device for studying, music player only etc.) but without ever turning off the phone or geolocation. A parent using an app on their own phone can manage what apps a child can use, when, and in the case of using our secure browser, can also manage what websites they access. In order to help reduce the risk of addiction a parent can also freeze the screen of the child’s device and bring them back to the real world and engage with the family and other activities. This should now become a standard part of whatever type of parent one chooses to be.
