Children and Internet Safety

It’s an ever-growing concern of how to keep children safe online, especially as they get older. The best way to keep children safe is through open conversation and education, it’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with any platforms you don’t know. 

There are lots of resources on the NSPCC website for families, including advice on how to talk to your child in an age-appropriate way and tips for things you can put in place to make devices with internet access safer to use. - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/talking-child-online-safety/  

Another tip for those of you with children who are above pre-school age and may use a PlayStation, you can download the PS4 app to your mobile phone, this means you can monitor settings and see who is on their friends list.  

There are other useful apps such as Family Link, this app allows you to create a profile for yourself and your family and add devices, if you wish to you can control what your child downloads and how much time they spend on each app or on their device all together. You can set it so your child has to ask for your approval before downloading apps and set time limits on each app, once the time is up, they can no longer use it without you granting permission for more time. This all can be done remotely, your child can request more time or to download and app and you will get a notification on our device. 

Another app which has lots of resources for parents and educators is NOS – National Online Safety from apple. You can also access a free online course through this app - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/national-online-safety/id1530342372  

Free 10-minute digital training, we're empowering every adult to know what to do if a child needs help, and where to go if you need support yourself.

Listen Up, Speak Up. Find out more.