BloomTalk
BloomTalk
Should Children Use Technology? A Parent’s Honest Views on Screens, Safety and the Future
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What does it mean to raise a child in a world full of screens?
Do you protect them from technology?
Or prepare them for it?
In this episode of Bloom Talk, we sit down with Dina, Founder of Girls in Tech and a working parent navigating one of the most difficult realities of modern parenting: raising children in a digital world you can’t fully control.
From strict “no gadgets” rules to moments of “just one video” to meet a deadline, Dina shares the honest, often unspoken trade-offs parents face every day. The convenience of screens. The guilt that follows. The fear of addiction. And the pressure of knowing that technology isn’t going away.
This conversation doesn’t offer perfect answers. It sits in the tension.
Because parenting today is no longer about avoiding technology. It’s about deciding how much is too much, how little is too late, and what it really means to prepare a child for the future.
This episode is for parents, educators, and anyone asking:
Are we getting screen time wrong?
How do you balance productivity with presence?
Is “digital babysitting” a failure or a necessity?
What does healthy exposure actually look like?
And how do you raise children to use technology without being used by it?
This is not just a conversation about screens.
It’s about guilt, pressure, responsibility, and the quiet uncertainty of doing your best in a world that keeps changing.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
• Why “just one video” is rarely just one
• The hidden trade-off between convenience and guilt
• How fear of addiction shapes parenting decisions
• Why strict rules often shift in real life
• The real challenge of balancing “how much” and “how little”
⏱️ Chapters
• 0:00 Trailer
• 1:30 The Big Question: Protect or Prepare?
• 3:10 “No Gadgets At All”: Where It Started
• 5:45 When Deadlines Change Decisions
• 8:20 The “Easy Babysitter” Reality
• 10:15 The Guilt Parents Don’t Talk About
• 13:40 Fear of Addiction vs Real Life Needs
• 17:10 When It Starts Feeling Chaotic
• 21:30 Are We Overthinking It?
• 26:00 Preparing Kids For A Tech Future
• 30:45 So… Where Is The Line?
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Keep Blooming!
Is there a part of you where sometimes you do feel guilty?
SPEAKER_01The guilt is indescribable. It's an easy babysitter. Flop them there. You get an extra hour of work. If you tell them, okay, time is up, the whining starts, the fighting, the arguing.
SPEAKER_00Today we're speaking with Dina, founder of Girls in Tech, and a working parent making real-time decisions about technology, boundaries, and what it means to raise children today. She founded Girls in Tech Tanzania after teaching herself how to build the website from scratch. When you first created your website, do you think that would have helped you a little bit more?
SPEAKER_01I didn't have any background in IT. I could actually do it myself. I could go on online, learn a little bit of this, now build on it and go to this other skill. It gave me wow, I could actually do a lot more.
SPEAKER_00You're one of the few parents who's pro-technology. Yes. You know, pro gadgets.
SPEAKER_01I was always like, I'm not gonna let my kids be on gadgets for too long. Let's face it, the future is tech.
SPEAKER_00But if technology can do that for an adult, what does it do for a child? And if it builds confidence, where do you draw the line between exposure and dependence? Don't you think there's some dangers with using technology?
SPEAKER_01100%. They are dangerous. I don't think we can avoid it. I feel like the benefits of it if you're using it correctly can outweigh the negatives.
SPEAKER_00How do you make sure that they're safe? How do you deal with that really?
SPEAKER_02I just usually I just have to do it.
SPEAKER_00I'm so happy that you're here in our podcast today. And I mean, we've known you for so long. I taught, I taught your firstborn, Lilia, and now I'm waiting for Lemu. So you're one of the few parents who's pro-technology, you know, pro gadgets, pro all that. But before we get to that, tell me a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_01So I am Dina Dabo. I am mother of two children who go to MapleBloom. Of course, you know you just mentioned that. Yeah. I am a business owner, I'm a consultant, I run an operations management company that looks at all things systems, project management, and HR. And we primarily work with SMEs. Okay. Um, outside of being a business owner and a parent, I'm obviously an individual who enjoys things, I enjoy fitness, I enjoy cooking, I love to eat. Um, yeah, I think that's in a nutshell. Yeah. So you mentioned that you own a business. Can you tell me more about that? So I run Tanzania Facilitation Services, which is an operations management consultancy. What we look at is what we work with is SMEs, so small, medium enterprises that have businesses, but they don't necessarily need a project manager or an HR person full-time. Maybe they cannot afford it or it just doesn't make financial sense. So we come in, offer our service on a short-term basis. For instance, we'd set up HR systems for company, policies, procedures, make sure that you're compliant, and then take a step back. Yeah. If you need us again, we are our phone call away, we set up in that sense. This same case happens with project uh management. Right. You have a short-term project, we come in, support you in that sense.
SPEAKER_00So I want to ask, you know, with you're being you're so good with project management. How does that relate uh to parenting styles? Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think you know, everything you do is, if you think about it, project related. Yeah. Um, same with parenting and running a household. You've got the budgets that you have to stick with, you've got so many stakeholders, whether it's your little ones, um, the support that you have at home, you've got to make sure that they're in order. You've got to mitigate for the risks that would happen. If a kid is sick, what are you gonna do? You've got, you know, you're basically coordinating so many different aspects. Um, same case in the traditional sense of a project. Yeah, you know, you're managing so many different aspects to make sure that everything works well as a system. Yeah, that's how I think about it when it comes to parenting and running a household.
SPEAKER_00That is true. Um, well, correct me if I'm wrong. Um, I think I saw a segment where you were speaking about something called Girls in Tech. Yes. Yes, I think. Do you want to tell me a little bit more about that, if you don't mind?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So, Girls in Tech, it was an NGO that uh I was running with a with a co-founder, Mariam Lope. Um and it is a chapter of a global NGO, also called called Girls in Tech. Right. Um, they had about 26 chapters across the world. And uh 2022, we'd met. I was at a point in my life where I realized that I it started with building a website for Tanzania Facilitation Services. Um, I obviously was trying to reduce my expenses, and I thought, let me get online and see how I can build my website myself. Back then, of course, you didn't have the AI to build the website for you, so I had to learn how to do it. I didn't have any background in IT. Um so I from that I sort of got empowered to to to the realization that I could actually do it myself. It's not gonna be perfect, but uh the website actually ran for a couple of years, and I met a lot of um, I came across a lot of challenges along the way. Right. But I would learn how to troubleshoot them. Going back to the tech, going back to YouTube videos, going back to the internet. Around the same time, I came across girls in tech, and their tagline was as I am. So you come as you are, whatever background that you have. My background was in organizational psychology, industrial sociology, and even environmental studies. Didn't have any background in IT whatsoever, but I learned from the internet, and so uh Biram and I thought this would be a great platform for young girls and women who are in our position would feel that, you know, I have a background in economics. What would tech do for me? But you would be shocked of how much you can do with it, doesn't matter what your background is. Yeah, tech pays paves the way for you. Yeah, um, of course, now with the AI, things have changed for the better, I think. Yeah. Um, but unfortunately, we had to shut it down uh for financial reasons. Right. Um but we met a lot of incredible people. It it opened our eyes to a lot more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um yeah. Well, I mean, you mentioned having AI being, you know, it's everywhere now. When you first created your website, and now it's you transition like you can transition in having AI created for you. Do you think that would have helped you a little bit more?
SPEAKER_01Of course it would have. I mean, when I think about my first, the first website that I created, it was a drag and drop, all these cool terminologies that website creators use. I thought I made it. Yeah. I look back at it, of course, it was so juvenile, such a juvenile website. Yeah. Um, but what that did for me was it gave me the the the courage to do a lot more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. So um, speaking more with tech, um, do you since you're pro-tech with your children as well, how do you keep them safe, you know, with them using gadgets? Yeah. How do you make sure that they're safe? Because I mean, with the world of today, you never know. Um tell me how.
SPEAKER_01So when my Lilia was a baby, I was always like, I'm not gonna let my kids be on gadgets for too long, da-da-da. I was always in that mindset uh because I felt like it was it would lead to the addiction um to technology. Again, let me preface this by saying it's not perfect. I'm not perfect in how I'm using tech with the kids. Yeah. Um, but I feel like it has it the benefits of it if you're using it correctly. Exactly. Yeah. Um, can outweigh the the negatives. So Lilia plays video games. I mean, it hasn't gotten there yet. Thankfully, still much younger. Um, but I'm seeing how she interacts with it. Okay. I allow her to play the tech the the video games, okay, but I've got my eyes on how she's playing, who she's playing with. Um, is she actually online or is it a game that you can play offline? Offline, yeah. Um, there's a lot you can learn from it. Yeah, and I'm seeing her uh advance or progress in the way that she speaks or the way that she interacts with these games. So there is positives to it. Okay. Of course, there's YouTube videos that they get on, that they watch. I don't think, and maybe some parents may come from my neck. Yeah, I don't think we can avoid it. Yeah. Um, I don't want to have my head in the sand and say, no, my kids are not gonna be on gadgets until they're 10. Yeah. They come to school, they see other kids speaking of video games or when they're when they're with their friends who are allowed gadgets all the time. I don't want them to also miss out or be left way behind. Let's face it, the future is tech, the future is using AI. Yeah. So if I am now, at least the way that I'm approaching it, is if I'm communicating with my children in a safe way and making sure that they're open with me and what they're using, then hopefully I am setting them in a space where if they meet anything that they're not sure of or any dangers on the internet, then I will be the first person they come into.
SPEAKER_00What's that? Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Yeah. And have you seen, you know, since she started using, you know, gadgets, have you seen her being more either social? Because we've had parents say, Oh, my kid isn't social, doesn't interact, but interacts more when he or she's on the screen. Have you seen her, you know, being more social, or maybe let's say talking about what she's playing with her friends? Or yeah. I have seen her speaking to her friends about the video games that she plays.
SPEAKER_01Of course, listen, you use um uh gadgets, kids get on it. There's days, it's not perfect. Right. Uh, I'd like to think that I have set limits and set times for them. Yeah. But there's days when I'm overwhelmed with work, uh, responsibilities, home responsibilities, and let's face it, you're always juggling to maintain all of these things in place. There's some days where they tend to go longer on these gadgets, and I can sense that they're not as energetic. That's when I step in and be like, okay, I've got to take a step back with these gadgets. So there has to be limitations to it. But at the same time, do I see that she's talking about it? Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because I've known her, you know, she's a very quiet girl, you know. She's very reserved, very quiet, very to herself. Um, is there a part of you where sometimes you do feel guilty when it comes to, you know, having her get just be like, hey, just use your iPad, it's okay. Does do you feel guilt sometimes? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. There's times where I've just I've got to meet a deadline, I've got to do this meeting, and I don't have the time to make do an activity with her or play with her. I resort to watch this while I finish. Yeah, the guilt is indescribable. I would love to say that I don't I don't feel guilty when it comes to parenting, but that's unrealistic. Um, if there's someone who has guilt-free parenting tips, I'd love to hear that.
SPEAKER_00They could drop it up down in the comments. Yeah, please. Yeah, for sure. Um, um, I wanted to ask, do you um think that maybe if Lilia would you have that dream where when you are able to go on web online and create your website, do you have that same dreams and aspirations for Lilia, having to see if she can create something while using these gadgets? 100%.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. 100%. I look, I'm looking forward to her to a couple of in a couple of years to introduce her to the idea of you know what, AI can create something. You can work with AI to create something for you. Think it is for me, it gave me wow, I could actually do this. Because my back educational background in high school, you you're boxed in this what you're studying, this is what you're gonna be, and that's it. You can't think outside of that. But being able to, and I always take it back to building the website, yeah. I you know, it gave me wow, I could actually do a lot more. Yeah, that's true. Um, so I want that for her. I want that for her and her brother.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And with um, have you seen a lot of changes um back then when we didn't really have the opportunity to be able to do what our gen like the kids now are able to do? And with these changes, what opinions do you give parents who are doing it wrong? Like, what do you what are you trying to advise them? Like, hey, you're doing it wrong. What what do you want to tell them?
SPEAKER_01I think personally, um, I wouldn't say parents should uh would be doing it wrong. I think every parent has their way, what they believe is the right way of parenting, and there's no one who should tell you what you're doing is wrong. Yeah. Um unless, of course, you know, medically related, I don't know. I don't know what what extreme example you can give. Yeah. But every parenting, every parent has their own way or beliefs of thinking that this is the way that I want to parent. So don't think um it's that for me personally and my husband, we've decided how we would allow our kids to use gadgets, right? How much of gadgets they're should be exposed to and at what age. Um, for instance, there's some parents who allow their kids to have phones. They have their reasons to do so. At this age, at this stage, with our kids, I don't think they're old enough to have or to carry the burden of phone responsibility.
SPEAKER_00So, Dina, with your um, I want to take us back to your educational background, um, and to see how you know you were able to explore in this new, you know, ventures that you told us. Can you tell me a bit more?
SPEAKER_01Okay, sure. Um, so in high school, I did my high school with the nectar system, which anyone who's done nectar knows that it, you know, for A levels, for instance, you're you're choosing three main subjects. Yes. My choice was economics, commerce, and accounting. Um I didn't think I could do anything outside of that because you're you're just focused on those three main subjects. Yeah. Not until I got to university, then I got to expand more. But even so, because my background was so boxed and rigid, in my opinion, um I I look back now at university, at my university years, and I think I wish I had the knowledge that I have now of the idea that I could do a lot more. So, speaking of the use of the internet um to learn a new skill like developing a website, I didn't, again, I didn't have that background. But learning it, mind you, the first YouTube video that I saw said I could build the website in three days. It took me about a month or so. It was a lot. Yeah, it was a lot. Because I could not figure out some of the terminologies that were used. So I would go see what they're doing, go back, try to understand the definition and how it connects to the bigger picture. It was like a mini course. And I keep saying that it going back to the website, not because of the website, but because of the skills of actually, I could go on online, learn this, um, learn a little bit of this. This will give me this skill, and then I'll build on it and go to this other skill, and then build on it. How I see this relating to uh the bigger picture in in in career-wise, it's the same way. You have a little bit of a background, I go to the internet, learn a little bit more, and of course, AI can break it down for you however you want. Yeah. When I built the website, I mentioned it, there was no AI. That's true, yeah. Um, and now if I relate it back to the parenting aspect, I would love my kids to see not the negatives of AI will take the jobs, you will have no, you know, love teachers, yes, AI always. I want them to use it to their advantage. Right. You still need to go to school. You're not gonna tell me that you want to quit school because you know, AI can help you with making money. Great. If it does, that's excellent, but I still feel you need that foundation of education system. Right. Um again, no, this is gonna be on the internet, and things don't get deleted on the internet.
SPEAKER_00That is true.
SPEAKER_01As my parenting has evolved, maybe my ideas will evolve in the future. And I'll I'll take now we're talking about evolution of parenting. Yeah. Initially, I said I was against my kids being on gadgets at all. In fact, my husband was like, actually, if you see it, it's not so bad. Now, a few years later, I'm like, actually, it's not so bad. But I'm gonna have to keep an eye on it to have some form of limitations for lack of a better word. Or at least, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so that's sort of like it you agree that it did change your philosophy. Absolutely. Yeah. 100%. And I mean, with having Lilia and Lamine as well, you know, they're two different kids. Yeah. And um with having, you know, gadgets and tech being involved, especially also with your career too. Um, I want to know if you had any challenges really having to transition, not just in your career, also in parenting. Just end of the day, you know, just like as your husband said, like, hey, it's actually not gonna, it's not that bad until you got to that point where you said it's actually not that bad. What were the challenges that you actually faced?
SPEAKER_01Um I think the challenge, the initial challenge was how much limitations to put on it. Um again, going back to it's it's an easy babysitter.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, let's be honest. Plop them there, you get an extra hour of work or do household chores. They're not crying, they're not fighting, everyone is happy. It's for free. It is for free unless you don't, yeah, you have to pay for the wifi. Yeah, you have to pay for the Wi Fi, so it's not free. But it is a convenient thing. Yeah. And you just have to the the challenge is uh balancing it all. Yeah. How much or how long can I allow them to be on their gadgets? Yeah. Um then you have to fight with them as well. Because that's the reality. They get on these gadgets, they're enjoying what they're doing. If you tell them, okay, time is up, the whining starts, the fighting, the arguing. Sometimes it's easier to say, you know what, just continue. Yeah. But that's the challenge that I've found to try and balance how much, how little.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because you also have the fear that you need to you you have the fear where you don't want her to be addicted to it. Absolutely. And once the addiction starts, it's so hard to, you know, pull away from that. Especially with having to, you know, you're also trying to deal with having her complete her homework after school, you know, maybe doing after you know extracurriculars that she does extracurriculars, right?
SPEAKER_01After school, she does.
SPEAKER_00And what kind?
SPEAKER_01She's now into jujitsu, which is excellent. I like I like that for her. She does swimming.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, she is more of a an you know, yeah, an introvert. Yeah. So it's nice that she's doing activities like that.
SPEAKER_00It's bringing her, you know, her character development. And do you think maybe with having you know, after her extracurricular activities, um, of course, she Tired after a long day of school and having to do that. Is it her way of winding down? Also, your way of, you know, as you say, getting things done before you, you know, it's her way of winding down, right? Absolutely. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yes. So we we do allow her to be on her gadgets, but there's a video game that she loves to play, and my restriction is or my limitation is you don't play during the week. Because she's got homework. I'd like for her to read a book, like for her to play with her toys after a long day of school. Um, but yeah, she gets to watch her YouTube videos that she likes and then continue. We bond.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Does she um does she bond well with when with Lamine? We could say. Does he tend to, you know? She's a second child, so I'm a second child. So I sort of know. I understand that part. In my mind, I answered my own question, but from his perspective that you see at home, how is that?
SPEAKER_01He wants to do what she does. Okay. He wants to play the games that she does, but he doesn't understand how to play them. She tries to explain it to him, but he's too young to grasp it. Yeah. So then there's tension between them to try and work together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. And how do you resolve that tension with, you know, because of course she's got her own space and she, you know, everyone deserves their own personal space. Going back to your career, you know, you're a problem solver. Yes. You know? So how do we, you know, mitigate? Is that the right word? You know, how do we go through that?
SPEAKER_01It's a it's a funny thing you say that because my best friend, my husband are convinced that I get involved in their drama, playground drama, quite often to try and resolve the situation. And oftentimes, my best friend's like, relax. Yeah, let them sort themselves out. Yeah. And so that's the personal battle that I'm trying to face. To control myself and not interfering. Because what ends up happening is then they get into this cycle of mama, this happened. She heated this, or she did that. So I'm constantly, I'm not doing the work that I'm supposed to be doing because I'm trying to resolve the issues. So what I'm learning, trying to learn, is to keep the problem solving at work and let them deal with it. Let them deal with it, let them find it out. Exactly. Siblings, do you know, siblings do that? Absolutely. So situation would be Lamine is playing. Yeah. He's calm. He's a teenager. He's going through a lot. Yeah. He's going through a lot. I don't know if I'm the only parent with the three-year-old who's going through it, but I'm going through a lot. He's calm, he's doing his own thing. Lilia's obviously bored. She goes, she teases him.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Lilia, leave him alone. He's finally playing. Yeah. Silence in the house. Teases him or tries to play with him. They then he gets annoyed and then he fights with her. So now I have to. I mean, it really depends on the day, the weather outside. Sometimes physical, but when it gets physical, I have to intervene because she doesn't retaliate physically. Um, and I think it's not fair. But again, that's when I intervene. But I realize sometimes that I should take a step back. Let her learn that don't ruffle feathers, don't ruffle the bear's feathers, especially of a teenager. So that's one example. Another very basic example is during a play date, kids bicker and fight all the time. Yeah, that's true. I should not get involved in trying to resolve every small thing. For instance, mommy, he took this or she took that. Let them do deal with it themselves. Yeah, yeah. And it is a great skill to learn from that age. Yeah. Like problem-solving skills, you know.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Not just in math, but in reality. Exactly. And when they have playdates, um, do you uh do you guys tend to allow gadgets in their play dates or do you let them explore on their own socializing and everything?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I prefer not to have gadgets during the play dates. Right, yeah. Because you're only with this particular friend for a couple of hours. Right. You've got these toys, or you've got the outside, do that. Yeah. The gadgets can be a downtime for you later.
SPEAKER_00That is true. Well, it's one of the challenges that you mentioned that um when it's time to get off of the gadgets, you know, on the off the tablets, you know, they the tantrum start. Yeah, you know, like I don't want to. How do you deal with that really? I just usually I just have to ride that wave. You have to ride that wave, yeah. And for example, if you're if there's a lot happening and you're like, okay, that's enough. Yeah. And they still throw that tantrum.
SPEAKER_01I've had literally last week I've had that experience. Yeah. And you just feel like it's chaotic. Um, you just want you want to resort to the easiest thing that will bring the calmness. Yeah. Um but at that, I'll give you the that most recent example. For me, I had to take a step back and realize, okay, what am I doing right now? Yeah. What is most important for me at this moment? Lamine is throwing a tantrum and he's going through it. Obviously, there's a lot of emotional things. I'm not a child psychologist, but I could see that he's going through it, and also we're trying to wean him off the pacifier. So there's a lot of things happening. Do I give in to him with the gadget because he's weaning off the pacifier? Because I've got a lot of work, because I've got other responsibilities that I have to attend to, or do I now take a step back, sit with him, cuddle him for a little bit until he calms down? And that's what I did. At the beginning he was fighting it, but eventually he calmed down and we found something else to play with. Okay. Um it was a teaching moment for myself, or more of uh a memory. You know, you read all these things, but you don't store them un or until you need to use them. Right. And at that moment I was like, oh yeah, I remember that's what I read somewhere a while back. That I need to hold him or you know, calm them down because they don't have the emotional capability to self-regulate. Self-regulate, yeah. Um, and yeah, so that's how I dealt with it. Oh wow. God knows what's gonna happen next week, but uh that was a proud moment for myself. That's good.
SPEAKER_00Hey, that's good. You know, as you say, you restore the memory and you're like, I can actually use this, and it worked. So you never know. And I mean, sometimes I've like, uh no, because we see it here in school, you know, we we so we teach them to self-regulate. Yeah, we go down on their level because if we try to have them meet us on our level, it doesn't work. So we tend to go down and just just understand, you know, what they feel because they have big emotions, you know. And having to, you know, that transition of okay, iPad time is over, or turn off the Wi-Fi and all of a sudden it goes crazy. It totally it's understandable, you know. It's a transition slowly, step by step, you know. Exactly. Might not work next week.
SPEAKER_01It might not. And honestly, I might have a pressing, urgent work match. Right, yeah. I might have whatever the case is. Yeah. No, you know, initially when I when I had kids, I was like, oh, I'm gonna do it all, I'm gonna balance it. I can't. It's impossible to man to balance everything. So there's times where I'm gonna have to give in and allow him to stay on the on the gadget for a little bit longer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you should give yourself some grace. You know, you tried something new last week and it worked. Correct. You should give yourself some grace.
SPEAKER_01So I'm gonna use that and place it, put a bookmark, a massive bookmark.
unknownFor sure.
SPEAKER_00So um, since we know that you allow your kids to use technologies, you know, don't you think there's some dangers that you know, with using technology and what makes you so comfortable having that, knowing that there are dangers. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh 100%. They are dangerous. They dangerous. Am I thinking about it all the time? Of course. Um Lilia plays a video game, it is online in the sense that she can't be exposed to um outside players. Yeah. Um I've disabled my husband has disabled a few functionalities that would allow her to interact with outsiders. Okay. Um I am grateful that Lilia is able to communicate with me and tell and be honest. Because that's the other thing. You can't be, you cannot say, oh, my kids tell me everything at all times. We've all had experiences where kids are not truthful at all times. Whether it's your kids, other kids, you hear stories of other kids not being truthful to their parents, we see it on TV, and so on. So I'm not oblivious to that. So I try to communicate with her slowly, introducing her of the uh to the the concepts of internet dangers, speaking to strangers on the internet. Uh we grew up, there's you're told speaking to strangers, okay, even now, speaking to strangers on the street. Yeah, right? Physical rather than someone online pretending to be another kid. Another kid, yeah. Um, do I have the solution to it? 100% I don't. Um, I'm trying to build a foundation where it's based on trust. Right. Uh both my husband and I. In fact, he's the one who pushes me to, you know. Give her that space of trust. Yeah. Speak to her. Yeah. Let's have open communication. Um, but at the same time, I do the monitoring. Okay. What are you watching? She knows that because even YouTube Kids has these shorts, YouTube shorts, which are ridiculous, the content that they have. She knows not to watch them because we've had a conversation about it. Even that, I know that she knows she shouldn't watch it. Even though she tells me she doesn't watch it, I still look at the history and see whether she's watched it or not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if she's watched it, I speak to her about it. I say, You promised me not to watch it. I know you you've watched a few videos. And then she would give me an explanation. And the good thing is it tells you how much of it they've watched. Yeah. So sometimes she comes across it and you can see that it's not even a couple of seconds and she's moved on to another uh the other video that she wanted to watch. So there are controls in place that I I what we're working with. Um again, it's not perfect. You just I we're just working with with it as we go.
SPEAKER_00I love this conversation a lot. And I'm sure a lot of parents are gonna relate. But I just have, you know, I want to ask you something. Maybe 10 years from now, having to be exposed at gadgets, and let's say Lilia, 10 or 20 years, you could say. Lillia and Lamine cross and find this podcast. What advice would you like to give them? Advice. Advice, yeah. Just like a little, hey kids, I did this.
SPEAKER_01I was very nervous to do this. You don't read.
SPEAKER_00What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01Good control of nerves. That's what I want to tell them. Um what would I want to tell them? I want them to not be afraid to express themselves. I want them to not be afraid of any limitations. I want them to be able to explore what's outside the box. Whatever hopefully they're not gonna be enclosed in boxes. Yeah, but I want them to be able to have the freedom of exploring what's outside the box. Yeah. Even just take a peek, start there. Look what's outside there. Yeah, um, yeah, and to know that you know the there it is the support, they have the support to do so.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm sure they're all they're gonna appreciate that. With teachers like you guys, yeah. Well, building the foundation, yeah, building it. We're trying our best. I know, you're doing your best, and you're doing such a great job at it. Thank you so much. No, thank you for trusting us, honestly. I mean, seeing Lamine in the morning, he gives me this look, and I'm like, you know.
SPEAKER_01And you, yeah, you're gonna teach Lamine, hopefully coming here. Yeah, you taught Lilia.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you see the difference. Oh my gosh. It's so great. And I feel old doing that because I hear my parents, my mom saying that, oh yeah, I met my students. I'm like, what? Where is that possible? Now I see it, and it's such a such a proud moment and an honor, honestly. It's it's great, and I love it.
SPEAKER_01And they remember you guys, so yeah, like Lilia remembers Miss Natalia, she remembers the ongoing joke. She still has that that duvet and the pillow that you got her for her third birthday.
SPEAKER_00Third birthday, yeah. Oh my god. She still has them. That's okay. All right. I'm not changing careers. Thank you so much, Dina, for joining our podcast today. But before we close off, what would you like to give an advice to the parents who are gonna be watching this podcast?
SPEAKER_01I think I don't like giving advice on anything, to be honest with you, especially on parenting, because every situation, every child is unique. Yeah. Um, I mean, parenting Lily and parenting Lamina are completely two different ballgames. So it's I I really don't think I'm in any position to give anyone advice. Um but I hope from here from this podcast there is a sense of relation to it. Um even, you know, if a parent has an experience that they can share with me to be open to giving it. I think oftentimes we're we're wary of coming off as uh, you know, you don't have the experience to sh to give me, you know, that sense, but I'm open to the experience share. There's a lot, you know, it's it's a simple situation where you're sitting with someone and you're going through something and you're like, yeah, I I went through this, da-da-da-da-da, and they experience share, it gives you the the hope that you're not alone. Yeah, that sense of comfort.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01This parenting journey is is a journey, and I have. So it's nice to when you hear other parents experiencing similar things and how they resolve it or how they go through it.
SPEAKER_00There's no judgment, really.
SPEAKER_01Literally, there is no judgment. It's more of what has worked with you, what has not. And that's why you have a lot of these groups that talk about what worked and what didn't work for them. So it's more of an experience here than an advice. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. Thank you. That was amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much for staying with us till the end. We hope this is valuable to you. We have been trying to get different perspectives and experiences come to light. If you're a parent or anyone in the community watching this YouTube podcast, kindly leave a comment down with any interest in topics that you want us to discuss in the next podcast. And don't forget to share, like, comment, and subscribe. Until next time, keep blooming!