Online Safety

Kids love being online whether that’s playing games or talking to their friends, but it’s important that they understand how to stay safe as they might not understand the risks involved.

We take a quick look at how you can help your child have fun while saying safe online. Talking One of the best things you can do is talk to your child about what they do online and who they talk to while connected.

Ask them questions like you would after they come home from school, so they know you are interested and then if they do have any concerns they are more likely to come to you with them, rather than keeping them to themselves. Although difficult, it is important that your child understands there are some risks to being online.

You may limit the games they play or the functions they can use within games and to your child this may seem unfair, particularly if their friends at school have more of a free rein.

Talk to them about the risks in a child friendly way, so they know you are not doing it to stop their fun, more that you are wanting to protect them.

They will have had some discussions at school about online safety too, so they will have an understanding, but be clear with what you are allowing them to do and the reasons why. Talk to your child about the importance of keeping passwords and personal information safe and not to give them out, not even to a friend.

You could also ask your child for tips on how to stay safe online yourself and where they learnt them from so you can have a greater understanding of their knowledge. Privacy Settings Check when your child is online, that their privacy settings are as you would like.

If you want to limit who they can talk to while online, then make sure their accounts are set to private.

You can also limit the chat functions and in-app purchases in games, so do check they are set as you would like to stop any issues arising.

Make sure your child also knows how to block someone if they are contacted by a stranger. Family Agreement As your child(ren) get older it might be a good idea to consider how you use the internet as a family. This could include how you all use the internet, how long you spend online, what you can safely share online and also what to do if things go wrong.

You can then agree as a family on the best way to manage your time online together, so you all have a greater understanding of expectations.

It’s also a good time to monitor how you as parent’s use the internet to check you are setting a good example and maybe implement a family agreement for you all to adhere too to make sure you all stay safe online as well as limit the amount of time you are connected, so you can also enjoy plenty of time offline as a family.

For more information or to download a family agreement template, take a look here.

Sources: NSPCC Childnet

Kids love being online whether that’s playing games or talking to their friends, but it’s important that they understand how to stay safe...