Online Safety for Parents

Your Child Can Face Threats Online

The internet opens a world of exciting possibilities for children, with a wealth of information to discover and learn from, games for entertainment and a means of communicating with family and friends. Unfortunately the internet can also be a dangerous place for children, where they can face threats such as:

• Harmful, illegal or inappropriate content
• Inappropriate communication
• Grooming
• Disclosure of personal information
• Arranging to meet with strangers or online-only friends
• Fake news and unverified content
• Scams
• Fake profiles (catfishing)
• Malicious malware (phishing emails, smishing texts or pop-ups)
• Screen addiction (game and social media addiction)
• Cyber bullying
• Negative body image
• Radicalisation
• Identity theft
• Self-harm or suicide
• Damaged online reputation
• Trolling

Keep Your Child Safe Online

It is not possible or even desirable to avoid all risk online. Children should not take risks unnecessarily, but just as you would not stop a child from learning to ride a bike because they might fall off, keeping your child from exploring the online world because it could possibly lead to harm is not doing them any favours. Instead teach your child how to be safe online and give them an age-appropriate amount of access to explore.

Below are some tips to help keep your child safe online:

• Use filtering software to block unwanted internet content.
• Adhere to recommended age ratings for games and apps. PEGI (Pan European Game Information) ratings are split into age restriction (3, 7, 12, 16 & 18 years) and content descriptors (fear, drugs, in-game purchases, violence, bad language, discrimination, gambling & sex).

• Use social media privacy settings and familiarise yourself with the reporting processes.
• Give your child strategies to deal with any online content or communication that they are not comfortable with (e.g. turn off the screen & tell an adult).
• Encourage your child to use nicknames (where possible) instead of their full name online, to protect their personal information, and create strong passwords for every account.
• Warn your child about talking to or friending people they have never met face-to-face.
• Encourage your child to ‘think before you post’. Online actions can impact not only yourself but the lives of others. Also, content posted privately online can be publicly shared by others and may remain online forever, so leave a positive digital footprint.
• Teach your child never to share revealing images or videos of themselves online.
• Teach your child online-only friends are strangers and they could be lying about their age and gender.
• Talk to your child about the risks of meeting up with online-only friends in real life.
• Ensure your child knows that adults who want to talk about sex online are breaking the law.

• Teach your child to check the validity of what they see and read online. They should check several different sources.
• Talk to your child about online scams - if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
• Teach your child to call an adult for help if a pop-up appears on the screen.
• If your child is being bullied online, save all the evidence and report the incident to the school (if applicable), internet service provider or the police (if the law has been broken).
• Limit the amount of time your child spends online, in particular gaming and on social media.
• Encourage your child to be online in a shared room at home without headphones or earphones. This will help you monitor their activity and discussions with online friends (e.g. in-game chat).
• Encourage your child to talk to you if they are ever worried about anything that happens online.
• Encourage your child to have a positive body image and high self-esteem. Explain that photos and posts people share online are often glamorised and idealised to portray a 'perfect' look and lifestyle.
• If your child's identity has been fraudulently used (e.g. to create a fake social media account) make a report to the school (if applicable), the social media platform provider and the police.

Online Safety Links for Parents

Refer to the links below for more information on how to keep your child safe online. Internet safety links for children can be found on the Children's Online Safety page.