'Told My Kids To Always Respect & Never Hurt Women': Shefali Shah

Shefali Shah speaks about the changes she wants to see in the film industry.

Shefali Shah speaks about digital safety among teens and more.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

"Having conversations and being honest is a huge part of parenting," said actor Shefali Shah while speaking about how she guides her children to use the digital medium responsibly. The actor and mother of two boys sat down for a chat with The Quint to speak about the new set to safeguards introduced by Snapchat for teenagers, teaching her kids to navigate digital media, spending over three decades in the film industry and more.

Among the features that Snap Inc has announced is one that will protect teens from being contacted by people they may not know. The platform will also provide a more age-appropriate viewing and enable removal of accounts that may be trying to market and promote age-inappropriate content.

Shefali Shah on Raising Two Boys

Speaking about raising two boys Shefali responded, "I remember the first thing I taught them when they were old enough to sit on a chair and have dinner was to pick up their plates after meals. Secondly, they left home at a very young age (one was 10 and the other 11) because they wanted to pursue football. I had a conversation with them about sex, the exposure that they will be getting and what kind of content is inappropriate. I wanted to be absolutely honest with them because I wanted them to be safe."

She added, "Another thing I distinctly remember telling them is to never disrespect or hurt a woman. They never forgot that."

Shefali on Teaching Her Sons to Use Digital Media Responsibly

When asked about being worried when her sons started using social media Shefali said, "Like every parent, I too was very worried. When they were younger, I could monitor their screen time but not anymore. So having conversations is a big part of parenting. You have to reason with them because kids are great at arguing."

On Changes She Wants to See When It Comes to Roles Written For Women

Shefali has spent over three decades in the film industry, and speaking about the changes she wants to see the actor said, "I would love to see female actors being paid equally as their male counterparts. Also, in a very big way, I want to see roles being written for women not keeping the age in mind. There's Meryl Streep, Olivia Coleman, Helen Mirren - they are still doing such amazing work. Age has nothing to do with the work they are doing. And strangely, age is never spoken about when it comes to the heroes in our industry."

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Editor: Arnab Chakravorty