The role of parent is so important for the children for both physical and mental development. Chief Secretary of LIPI, Nur Tri Aries Suestiningtyas said, “the family is the pillar of the nation, because that is where the first education for children obtained,” when opening the International Family Day Public Discussion, Wednesday, May 25, 2019 at the Sasana Widya Sarwono LIPI.
In terms of physical development, Indonesian parents need better understanding in good consumption patterns for children. This is because Indonesia still has a stunting problem. Ainia Herminiati, a researcher at the Center for Appropriate Technology LIPI said, “stunting can be prevented by paying attention to the consumption patterns of children in the first 1000 days of life.” The nutrition of Breast milk’s food replacement is not the only thing need to be considered, but the texture and variety is also important so that children are not bored and still want to eat healthy.
Mental development in children is also important aspects, especially in adolescents. Teenagers born in the digital age are very active in operating devices even without being taught and monitored. The danger of cyberbullying is a challenge for parents to supervise the internet usage habits of teenagers. “Cyberbullying os more dangerous because children are still bullied even though they are at home. The use of fake accounts also makes the bullies difficult to track and anticipate, so parents find it difficult to handle,” said Augustina Situmorang, a researcher at the LIPI demographic population.
The wide gap between parents and children in the internet activity make it more difficult for the parent to understand the children. This gap makes cyberbullying is harder to prevent. Children tend to hide problems from parents because they think parents will not understand and can’t provide the protection needed.
Therefore digital literacy for parents needs to be understood in order to be able to supervise properly. Digital literacy is not only a matter of teaching children to use devices, but also a matter of emotional ability. “This is a challenge for parents not only to monitor the duration of the use of devices and digital media. But also emotional skills. Such as understanding content and selecting information,” said Aulia Hadi, social and cultural research center researcher LIPI.
