Online safety advice for parents

Asking your child what they enjoy most about the internet can help make talking about what they do online a part of normal family life.

With the range of devices, platforms, games and apps that children use, it can be daunting to try and keep on top of everything. Having regular, open conversations with your child can help build trust and understanding.

Why not try:

• familiarising yourself with the platforms your child is using and review the parental controls or filtering. You can talk about safety features together and discuss how to stay safe online
• talking to your child about what to do if they see any inappropriate content or behaviour that is harmful or upsetting
• asking your child about what content they enjoy seeing, who they are friends with or who they like to follow?
• having screen time in family areas such as the living room or kitchen
• leaving devices downstairs at bedtime

The earlier your start talking about online safety at home, the easier it will be to manage risks as your children get older.

Top tip: Have these conversations as part of usual family routines such as car journeys or over dinner.

Spending time online

The screen time advice hub has lots of age-specific advice on how long children should be spending online and tips to manage this in a healthy way.

The minimum age to access most social media in the UK is 13. You can prepare your child for their first accounts by talking to them about:

• setting strong privacy settings
• sharing safely
• limiting friend and follower requests
• how you will monitor their activity with supervision tools
• being a positive influence online
• handling pressure to fit in
• fake news and misinformation – not everything posted online is true
• a plan for responding to bad experiences