The parent/carer - child relationship is the foundation to keeping children safe and supporting their educational attainment and social development.Maintaining an open dialogue with your child about the use of the internet and discussion on how to behave online will help them to keep safe online.
Childnet's family agreement might help to set clear expectations for positive and safe internet use.
Internetmatters.org has created online safety checklists for:
Pre-school Children Young Children Pre-Teens (11 to 13 years)Digital Wellbeing / Screen Time
Source: UK CMO commentary on screen-based activities and children/young people's mental health and psychosocial wellbeing (February 2019).
Gaming
Gaming is a fun and sociable way to spend time, encouraging teamwork and developing skills. There are some risks parents/carers need to be aware of to help their child stay safe and have a positive gaming experience.
National Online Safety has published some useful guidelines for parents and carers:
Find more information on online gaming risks here.
Device Safety (Settings)
To make sure children are safe online, it is advised to set their devices up before use.
Internet Matters has designed a simple checklist to give parents/carers peace of mind regarding their child's safety on the internet. ('Set up Safe Checklist'). Their information about parental controls can be found here.
Information about how to set up filters on your home internet (BT, SKY. TalkTalk, Virgin Media) to help prevent age inappropriate content being accessed can be found here (video tutorial). The UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) has provided this resource.
Please click here to find out about safety features and settings offered by the main web browsers (e.g. Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox). (Source: UK Safer Internet Centre)
Parents'/Carers' Guide to Technology
Guide to buying an Internet-Connected Device
Advice about smartphones, gaming devices, tablets and other internet-connected devices (UKSIC)
Smartphone Purchase - Expert Tips
Internet Matters gives advice on things to consider when buying a mobile phone and compares a selected range of phones and their safety features. Find out more here.
CHILDNET | Online Resources for Parents and Carers
Useful Websites
www.internetmatters.org: This website has lots of information, advice and resources which can be used to help children stay safe online.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command): CEOP works with child protection partners across the UK and overseas to identify the main threats to children and coordinates activity against these threats to bring offenders to account, protecting children from harm online and offline.
BBC (Webwise): Information and support for safe use of the internet
For more advice on online safety visit:
