The internet is an integral part
of children's lives and it opens up many
educational and social opportunities, giving
them access to a world of information and
experiences.
Whether on a computer at
school, a laptop at home, a games console or
mobile phone, children are increasingly
accessing the internet whenever they can and
wherever they are.
As you would protect your
child in the real world, you will want to make
sure that they are safe whatever they are doing.
Like learning to cross the road, online safety
skills are skills for life. If your child
understands the risks and can make sensible and
informed choices online, they can get the most
from the internet and stay safe whilst doing so
– particularly from those people who might seek
them out to harm them.
So, how can you protect your
child online?
The answer is simple. If you
understand the internet and understand what the
risks are, there are a number of things you can
do that will make your child safer online...
- Help your children to
understand that they should never give out
personal details to online friends they do
not know offline.
- Explain to your children
what information about them is personal:
i.e. email address, mobile number, school
name, sports club, arrangements for meeting
up with friends and any pictures or videos
of themselves, their family or friends.
Small pieces of information can easily be
pieced together to form a comprehensive
insight in to their lives and daily
activities.
- Make your children aware
that they need to think carefully about the
information and pictures they post on their
profiles. Inform them that once published
online, anyone can change or share these
images of them.
- It can be easy to forget
that the internet is not a private space,
and as result sometimes young people engage
in risky behaviour online. Advise your
children not to post any pictures, videos or
information on their profiles, or in chat
rooms, that they would not want a parent or
carer to see.
- If your child receives
spam or junk email and texts, remind them
never to believe their contents, reply to
them or use them.
- It's not a good idea for
your child to open files that are from
people they don't know. They won't know what
they contain—it could be a virus, or worse -
an inappropriate image or film.
- Help your child to
understand that some people lie online and
that therefore it's better to keep online
mates online. They should never meet up with
any strangers without an adult they trust.
- Always keep communication
open for a child to know that it's never too
late to tell someone if something makes them
feel uncomfortable.
As children grow up, parents
and carers have to teach them a variety of
things to ensure that they are equipped to face
the challenges of the modern world. We have to
teach them how to deal with strangers and how to
engage with other children and adults
appropriately in a variety of different
settings, including the home, school and in the
world at large.
When our children go out to
play we want to know where they are going. We
satisfy ourselves that they know how to get
there without any mishaps or being exposed to
any real dangers en route, that they will be
safe when they get there and that they will be
with responsible people throughout. Typically,
when our children come home we ask them if
everything was OK. We take a very close
interest.
Using the internet safely
requires similar skills, which is why it is
important that parents and carers find out more
about the internet for themselves.
In the overwhelming majority
of cases, the benefits of the internet easily
outweigh any drawbacks. To keep it that way,
parents and children need to know that there are
places on the internet which adults, as well as
children, may find distressing.
Beyond these dangers, other
websites have the potential to harm
impressionable young people through the
presentation of extremist views. Sites may be
very disrespectful of other people’s religious
beliefs or cultural backgrounds or seek to
distort history. There are many other more
insidious threats around too. Without the
experience to distinguish between genuine and
misleading messages, children may be fooled by
scams of various kinds.
There are however, a few
simple steps which parents can take to help
their children use the internet safely.
Some simple ways to keep
children safe online
- Get to know your child’s
online habits. Children are inquisitive.
They will look to explore the internet as
much as they do the real world. Knowing the
sites they go to, the people they meet there
and what they do will help to keep children
safe.
- Stay alert to any sudden
changes in mood or appearance, or to any
major change in habits or to increased
secretiveness. These are often tell-tale
signs that something is not right.
- Keep lines of
communication open - tell your child they
can always talk to you or another trusted
adult, such as a teacher, if they do end up
in some sort of trouble on the internet.
Make children aware that there are things on
the internet which may distress them.
- Spend some time surfing
the internet yourself. The more that you
know about the internet, the better able you
are, in turn, to help your child navigate
around it without coming to any harm.
- Install internet
filtering software showing a Child Safety
Online Kitemark on your computer. Filtering
products with a Kitemark have been
independently tested to provide a simple and
effective means of support to parents,
helping to ensure that a child’s online
experience is a safe one.
- Be aware of professional
sources of help. These include:
-
www.thinkuknow.co.uk:
the main UK Government website with
advice for parents on how to keep
children safe online
-
www.ceop.police.uk:
the Child Exploitation and Online
Protection Centre (CEOP) is the
Government body dedicated to eradicating
abuse of children. Concerns about
inappropriate contacts between a child
and an adult, including online, can be
reported directly to CEOP.
-
www.iwf.org.uk:
the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
works to remove illegal material from
the internet. If you have found any
material you believe to be illegal e.g.
child sex abuse images, other obscene
material or material which incites
racial hatred, you can report it to the
IWF.
(Source: thinkuknow.co.uk 2009)
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