Thank you to those who completed our questionnaire about online safety. The responses and comments were interesting and useful. While most parents/carers were very confident or quite confident about keeping their children safe online, others were concerned that they didn’t know enough. It was good to see that most of the respondents said they had at least some idea of where to look for help with this issue. However, 20% said that they didn’t know where to find help with keeping their children safe online. The areas which parents and carers would like more information on were Cyberbullying and Inappropriate Material.
From comments made, it seems that the main concerns are about children accessing, or coming across content which is inappropriate for their age. Parents and carers also worry about their children communicating with strangers, some of whom may have fake profiles and criminal intentions. Misleading information is another concern. One respondent, with professional experience in the area, commented that it is important that children are made aware that,
"Not everything you see or read online should be trusted. Always fact check and only trust well known sources.With the rise of artificial intelligence, it's important
to question everything you view online as you may be looking at fake information."
We are addressing this at school as it is part of the curriculum, however, it is important that this conversation continues at home.
I have put together a list of websites which offer advice and guidance to parents and children about keeping safe online. They all address the concerns aired in the questionnaire. Please take the time to browse and find the information most useful to you. You could look at some of the websites with your child and talk about the issues as you go. Some have games and videos to watch.
The general message is that, unfortunately, there is no quick fix. Safety settings can help but you will need to monitor your child’s internet use and talk to them, so that they know what to do and who to ask for help when they come across problems.
-Be part of your child’s online life. Join in!
-Monitor what they are looking at
-Talk to your child about what they see online, the risks they might come across and how to deal with them.
-Limit screen time. They might be missing out on other great activities.