Young people are very much the creators and distributors of information today; this can be very exciting and creative. However it can also involve inappropriate content. We are living in an age when technology is changing fast and our children know more about it than we do. While many young people are quick to pick up technology, parents can feel their children know more about it than them. What is important for parents is to remember they have wisdom, experience and knowledge to support their children.

One of the ways we parent comes from how we were parented ourselves (e.g. how our parents taught us about healthy eating or road safety), but when it comes to digital technologies, we don’t have a benchmark from our own childhood.  Teaching children about digital technologies is essential, but you do not need to be a technical wizard to do this. It’s all about using common sense to help children learn to manage risks and also about making sure that they know their parents are there to help them if anything goes wrong. 

So… what should you do?

1. Check you know what applications your children are using, especially chat rooms and games played with others online. Ask who their ‘e-pals’ are. Get them to teach you about how things work.
2. Get involved in your children’s online activity at home and TALK.
3. Support the school Acceptable Use Policy and take an active interest in what your children are doing in ICT at school.
4. Encourage Internet use. It helps to keep the computer in a family room not tucked away in a child’s bedroom. Help your children to use the Internet for homework and leisure interests that builds on offline activities.

Use some of the tools on the computer to help you. Click on the links below that explain how to apply parental controls to your computer is below:

Tips, advice, guides and resources to help keep your child safe online

As a parent or carer you play a key role in helping your child to stay safe online.

You don’t need to be an expert on the internet to help keep your child stay safe online. Our advice and resources are here to support you as you support your child to use the internet safely, responsibility and positively.