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Keep ahead of your Kids!

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TOP TIPS for parents and carers

  • As soon as your children start using the technology start talking about safety
  • Trial the technologies before your children and come up with realistic ground rules
  • Use parental controls!
  • Explain parental controls and internet rules so that your children understand and respect them
  • Teach your children the SMART rules – think about creating your own

Reporting

The internet is a vast exciting environment for parents and children alike. Aside from the fun there are potential risks. Make sure you are informed with regards to the appropriate reporting bodies in case you do come across net nasties and think about saving these websites to your list of favourites.

  • For problems with mobile phone paid for services visit the Phone Pay Plus site
  • To find out more about illegal content and where to report it visit the IWF
  • To report inappropriate contact with children from an adult visit CEOP
  • To learn how to do this visit our Know IT All area – you can access this site from the links below.
  • Finally if you think that your child may be a target of cyberbullies visit our Digizen site to learn more about what you can do to protect your child.
 

Mobiles

Children can access the internet from a growing number of devices these days. Use our checklist for parents in order to ask the right questions when buying a mobile phone for your child to make sure the correct safeguards are put in place.

Kids love technology

"On this page you can find out how you can introduce internet safety..."

A good place to start

Download the pdf for tips for primary aged children, and tips for secondary aged children

Factsheets

If you want more information about keeping your children safe online have a look at the fact sheets Childnet has produced about mobiles, safer searching, internet addiction, chatting, spam and photos online.

Of course it's also a good idea to have a look at the information on our site – why not have a go at our KidSMART website treasure hunt?

Using the KidSMART site with your kids

Download our 'How SMART are you?' quiz

Get your children thinking about internet safety with our quiz. This activity is designed to encourage children to be aware of how to use new technologies positively and the potential risks associated with them.

The quiz will guide you all around the site and help you to learn important internet safety rules.

Familiarise yourself with the technologies

Many families rely on their children to keep them up to date with the latest technologies. Having the time to keep up with kids can be hard but it's a good idea to talk to your children every now and again about their favourite things to do on computers, mobile phones and games consoles.

Have a go yourself and make your own decisions regarding the safety of that service. You may also want to have a look at the other areas of the KidSMART website. The pages are packed with good advice you can share with your kids.

Parental controls and a good chat

Did you know that most interactive products offer parental controls? This means that you can choose the sort of service you want your child to access. E.g. only accessing child friendly sites from the internet and blocking access to the internet from a games console. Many of these controls are password protected so only you have access to these settings.


There is a growing number of filtering, blocking, and controls for families. Do use the controls BUT remember that children can access the internet from a variety of locations where the same safeguards may not be in plac e.g. friends' houses, grandparents' houses. This is why controls and regular talks about appropriate use and internet safety must go hand in hand … getnetwise is a useful site if you are researching appropriate fitering software for your family.