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Online Advice

Phones, tablets and the internet can be an amazing place for your child to learn new skills, often in a fun and engaging way. Here are some top tips to make sure you can enjoy these things safely.

Top tips

  • Talk to your child about what they’re up to online and engage with them in this activity.
  • There are some great films you can watch about online safety to watch with your children and loads of useful advice provided by the NSPCC.
  • Encourage your child to use sites that are fun and will help develop online skills.
  • Set boundaries like you would anywhere else (what time of day they can go online, and for how long?)
  • Know what connects to the internet and how.
  • Keep the equipment that connects to the internet in family spaces.
  • Understand and use parental controls.

Parental controls

All gaming consoles, mobiles, tablets and computers have parental control systems installed ready for you to access.

You will be able to:

  • Select what games children can play based on PEGI ratings.
  • Control digital purchases.
  • Limit access to internet browsing.
  • Control time spent playing games.
  • Control frequency of online chat.

We have all seen age ratings on films, but they also use a similar rating for games. The PEGI ratings consider the age suitability not the level of difficulty of the game.

 

PEGI – Pan European Game Information 

For a more detailed breakdown on the age ratings – and what all the labels mean – take a look here.

 

Social media

Most social media sites have a minimum age, so make sure you know if your child should be accessing these sites.

The NSPCC have put together a really handy guide to different social media sites – so you can understand the difference between Snapchat and Facebook, and information about Fortnite or Minecraft and similar chat rooms.

If your child is old enough to have an account on a social media platform, you can help your child set up their account. Use it as a learning opportunity to show them what sort of information does not belong on social media.

Use your email address as the main contact. This way, you can keep an eye on their online activity at a distance.

Talk through the privacy settings with your child step-by-step. It will be another learning opportunity to show that not everything is hidden on the internet.

 

Tips for reducing screen time

  1. Keep all devices in the shared space.
  2. Set a good example.
  3. Tech-free time in the family schedule.
  4. Use tech as family time.

 

Give yourself a quick refresher on this at any time with the videos below:

If you’re interested in learning more about how to communicate these digital risks to your children more effectively, check out ‘The art of listening’ and ‘Communication style: Secondary School’.