Children should not be allowed to open the door for deliveries without adult permission or supervision, a Sharjah child safety authority has said as it urged parents to set clear rules for the use of delivery and online shopping apps at home.
The Child Safety Organisation, affiliated with the Sharjah Family and Community Council, said in a message on Monday that children may not always be able to assess a situation or know when adult intervention is needed.
The organisation urged parents to ensure children do not place online orders, make payments or share home addresses through delivery and shopping apps without family approval.
It said some children may use their phones to order food, products, toys or other items without their parents’ knowledge, and may try to receive the delivery themselves when it arrives.
Families were also advised to review app settings on devices used by children, avoid saving bank card details or enabling quick payment options without safeguards, activate purchase and payment notifications, and use age-appropriate parental control tools.
Parents were urged to teach children not to share their home address, phone number or personal information through apps or digital conversations without direct family approval.
The organisation said children should understand that just because a platform is easy to use, it does not mean they can act alone or bypass their parents.
The advisory comes as delivery services become part of everyday family life, helping households manage food orders, shopping and other daily needs more easily. However, the organisation warned that when children use these services on their own, parents need to be aware of what they are ordering, how they are paying, and whether they are trying to receive deliveries themselves.
It said the message was not meant to create fear, but to help families respond to the way apps have changed children’s behaviour inside the home. A child may see ordering online as a simple step on a phone, but may not fully understand why they should tell their parents what they are buying, wait for an adult when a delivery arrives, or avoid opening the door to anyone without permission.
Hanadi Saleh Al Yafei, Director General of the Child Safety Organisation, said apps now allow children to make quick decisions that previously passed through the family.
“The issue is not only how children use apps, but also what they order or receive, and whether they are given privileges before they have the awareness and experience to manage them safely,” she said.
Al Yafei said supervision does not mean preventing children from using technology or treating them with suspicion.
“It means creating safe and clear boundaries between what a child can do independently and what should remain under adult oversight. Delivery and ordering services are part of daily family life, but when children use them, parents should supervise both the order itself and the way it is received,” she said.
She added that families should treat digital access as a gradual process, not an automatic step.
“Children need to understand that privacy, payment details, home addresses and digital services are responsibilities that require awareness, maturity and age-appropriate supervision. The safest approach is to introduce children gradually to the digital world, as delaying smartphone use remains one of the most effective ways to protect them and build their digital awareness,” Al Yafei said.
Source: Khaleej Times