If you don’t know the sender, it may be a pretender
– ThinkSlogans.com
How do you keep kids safe online? Does your child makes use of a mobile device with data access, do they make use of the internet for school projects or do they have access to Facebook, Instagram etc.? As parents / caregivers in the 21st century, it cannot be ignored that children spend vast amounts of their time on their phones, mobile devices and/ or the internet. Technology, in its many forms, plays a major role in their daily lives and whilst, for the most part, this can be extremely useful, like most things in life, it also has a dark side, and in order to keep kids safe online and ensure they do not get sucked into this dark side, you need to arm them with as much knowledge as possible.
There are a number of websites that provide loads of hints and tips to help parents and children navigate the perils of modern technology, namely:- Cellphone Safety, Facebook – Family safety centre (Provides information, tools and resources for family safety on Facebook), MWeb – Security Centre (Provides a resource on computer security and family safety online).
In addition, Microsoft , when it comes to dealing with kids online activities, provides useful tips which cover the following important topics:-
- Making sure they are old enough to use the online service.
- Making sure they do not divulge personal information (full name, ID number, street address, telephone number etc.) about themselves or their family online
- Making sure they know what they post online stays on line (even if they delete it, copies of what they post may exist on other people’s computers or cell phones forever)
- Making sure they think before they post (or share) a comment, picture or video. Would they be comfortable sharing this information face-to-face, if not then should probably not do so online.
- Making sure they know not to discuss and/or post any sexually revealing pictures of themselves or anyone else online
- Making sure they know about, do not participate in and are encouraged to report online bullying, in any form (i.e. rumours spread via social media, sending inappropriate pictures or sending threatening messages etc.)
- Making sure they know what to look out for in relation to online scams, inappropriate websites’ and how to identify and utilise a website’s safety notifications and privacy standards.
- Making sure they know how privacy settings work on social media sites, so they know how to protect themselves online.
- Make sure they know and understand that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.
In an effort to keep kids safe, parents have a duty to keep up to date with current technology and to know what services their children are making use of. You need to ensure that privacy settings are correctly set up and you should pay attention to who your children are friends with on social media i.e. Facebook. You should share with your children what you consider to be inappropriate behaviour and content and show them how to flag / report this when they see it online. Parents should keep a close eye on their children’s online usage and behaviour in order to pick up any signs of cyber bullying and/or inappropriate behaviour (i.e. online grooming etc.)
A further step to take in keeping kids safe online includes making use of child-friendly browsers (rather than using Chrome or Firefox which provides readily available adult content). Some child-friendly browsers you can use include:-
- KIDO’Z Kid’s
- KidRocket
- Buddy Browser
- KidZui (KidZui also provides and extension for Firefox that allows safe browsing for teenagers using the normal Firefox browser)
5 Practices to keep kids safe online
- Do change privacy settings to keep social media profile private (default settings are not always best)
- Do monitor online usage and behaviour (look for signs of online bullying and/or inappropriate behaviour)
- Do use safe, child-friendly browsers
- Do not use “location services” where possible
- Do keep track of their online profile (it will be with them for life so make sure that there are no inappropriate messages / photo’s being sent or received)
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Related Links
ikeepsafe | Prevent Cyber Bullying
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