MUMBAI: It is 2014 but parents in cities are still not comfortable talking to their children about condoms and sanitary napkins , a recent survey has revealed.

No less than 49.8% parents distract their children whenever a sanitary napkin or condom ad appears on the small screen, the survey stated. While 33.3% parents prefer to switch channels, 2.1% choose to walk out of the room altogether.

A total of 7,756 parents of children aged under seven years, and 567 children in the three to six age group were interviewed across nine cities—Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Jaipur and Delhi—to understand their television-viewing habits.

Only 63.8% of those who continued to watch the ads said that they gave their children age-appropriate replies to their questions.

“A child asks a question only when she or he is ready to hear the answer and understand it. So parents must never switch channels. Instead, when parents notice their children watching any controversial content, they must encourage them to ask questions. If parents don’t pay heed to a child’s curiosity, he or she may get answers from the wrong sources, which can be harmful,” said Swati Popat Vats, president, Podar Education Network.

The survey was conducted by the Early Childhood Association (ECA) and the Podar Institute of Education.

Experts in mental health, too, say that parents must never “humiliate” a child’s questions or leave them unanswered. “Parents must never lie to their children about what they watch on television. Everything must be explained to them in an age-appropriate manner to ensure they are not misguided,” said Dr Harish Shetty, senior psychiatrist at Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital, Powai.

The survey added while more than 80% parents are aware that excessive TV can be harmful for children, 39% of them allowed them to watch it for more than an hour a day.

“The attention span of very young kids is very short, so it is likely that they will not watch TV for too long. However, parents use TV to distract or feed a child. This must be discouraged,” said Dr Vasant Mundra, consulting psychiatrist, P D Hinduja Hospital.

Shetty said children should ideally watch TV for a maximum of 30 minutes a day and that playtime must be four to eight times more than TV-viewing time.

The survey also said that though 84% parents are aware that the “fun violence” shown in cartoons is not healthy for a child’s emotional development, 90% of the respondents allowed their kids access to the content. “Even if some content seems child-friendly, parents need to be watchful,” said Vats.

The ECA said it will send the survey findings to the ministry of information and broadcasting and the ministry of women and child development to demand laws for children’s content on television.