What parents need to know about Andrew Tate

If you are a parent of teenagers, I’m sure you have come across the name Andrew Tate. More recently he has been in the News after being arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, but before that he amassed a huge social media following, where he became very popular with teens.

Before being banned by TikTok, Instagram, Youtube and Facebook, Tate showed his followers images of his lavish lifestyle full of super cars, luxury items and private jets. He also used his channels to voice his controversial views on topics such as womens roles, masculinity, how to get rich and be strong.   

Despite him personally not being allowed to post on these platforms at the moment, there is still a vast amount of his content online. If you type #andrewtate into Instagram there are 378 thousand posts, #andrewtateinspiration has 34.3 thousand posts and #andrewtatequotes has 15.2 thousand posts.

He is still active on Twitter, with 4.7 million followers. A lot of whom are supporting him through his incarceration and claiming his arrest is a result of the media and The Matrix rather than any wrong doing on his behalf.

So, what do you need to know:

Who is Andrew Tate?

According to Wikepedia Andrew Tate is an American-British social media personality, businessman, and former professional kickboxer. He has also starred in Big Brother. He was born in the US in 1986 and later moved to the UK with his mum and brother. He is Mixed race and was raised as a Christian. 

Should I be concerned my child is watching content from Andrew Tate

Whilst there is a lot of content around controversial views from Andrew Tate, there is also a rise of people discussing how toxic his views are. A recent tweet he sent to Greta Thunberg, inviting her to come and view his fleet of air polluting super cars, resulted in her well written response going viral which wasn't a good look for him. If you have noticed that your child is watching Andrew Tate content, this is a great opportunity to open up a discussion on what your child thinks about him and his views.

How do I talk to my child about Andrew Tate

It can be common for children to want to rebel from their parents views, particularly if you express a disliking for a friend or celebrity figure. So it is important to tread lightly and be respectful of their point of view to get the best results. 

Instead of telling them what you think about him, why not ask some clever questions to make them think about it themselves. For example you could mention that you had seen a tweet from him that said that women belong in the kitchen, you could then ask questions like 'have you seen that tweet?, 'what do you think about what he said?' and 'what do your friends think about that comment'. These questions could open up a whole conversation and give you an insight into what your child thinks and what people they are hanging around with are thinking / discussing. 

If your child is really a big fan, why not try to find some tweets or comments he has made that you agree with and talk about those. You may not be able to get your child to stop watching his content straight away, but you could try and shift their focus. 

Encourage your children to watch full videos instead of clips. Quite often on Instagram or TikTok we are shown 10-30 second clips from a full interview, these clips will have the most shocking line. We are then left to our own imaginations to work out what that person is saying. If we actually watch the full video of what that person was saying we hear everything in context and quite often what the person said isn't quite a bad as we first thought.

Other tips for if you are concerned about your child

• Try finding inspirational role models for your children and try to introduce them, these could be other social media influencers. You can find these by searching for your child's interests, e.g football, minecraft, luxury lifestyles and researching the top users. Make sure you have a good look at the content they are posting to ensure they are good influences.
• Ensure your child has lots of opportunities to do things away from their phone, things like extra curricular activities, getting outside and playing sport.
• Ensure you have read up on how to you can keep your child safe online, to make sure they are watching age appropriate content. There are lots of tips online about how you can monitor your child's device usage and ensure parental controls are set up.