Keeping your child safe online

The internet is great for learning, sharing, connecting and creating but it is important to guide children on how to keep themselves safe online. Fortunately, there are a lot of organisations dedicated to helping families with online safety advice and protecting children.

Parental Safety Controls

Using parental and privacy controls can help you check the privacy settings on social media and websites. Internet matters.org can help you navigate how set parental controls on your child’s phone or device. Different social media platforms have different age restrictions, most of which are 13 years old. It is important for you to have conversations with your child about their media use, what they are sharing and how to keep them safe.

These are some useful guides to help you start those conversations.
•   Age 11-13 Guide  
•   Age 14+  
•   Lets talk about life online 

A great way to start positive family conversations around safe and responsible Internet use, and to agree clear expectations and boundaries, is to create a family agreement. 

Useful resources

Keeping Children Safe by the NSPCC provide support and tips to help you keep children safe. They offer advice on children’s mental health to staying safe online, support for parents and what to do if you are worried about your child.

Parent Zone can provide support and guidance for parents from leading experts and organisations 

ChildNet have a range of resources aimed at supporting parents on a wide range of topics. 

Think You Know is an education programme from the National Crime Agency. They have created home activity packs with videos and parent advice guides to support your conversations with your children on a range of subjects.

Childline have advice directed at children themselves on how to stay safe online with risks and tips, as well as how to spot fake news