06/02/2018
Today is Safer Internet Day and with more than three-quarters of children aged between 10 and 12 having social media accounts, it’s important to encourage children to be safe and responsible online.
This year the theme for the day is “Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you” which is about encouraging everyone to work together to create a better internet. And with over 1000 supporters, including charities, schools and big business’s such as Facebook , it is definitely going to be a well talked about day.
What you can do to protect your children online?
As a parent it can be hard to control what your child is getting up to online – especially when they are at an older age and when they have their own mobile device. Here is what you can do to protect your children online:
- Talk to your child and find out what sites they are visiting online. There becomes a fine line of invading your child’s privacy but speaking to your child regularly will let you know what they are doing.
- Set up parental controls. The top four internet providers in the UK; BT, Talk Talk, Sky and Virgin Media offer free parental controls that can be activated at any time. Find out how to set them up
- If your child does have social media – make sure that all of their profiles are private, and ask them to only accept friend requests from people they know.
- It is never too early to teach children the importance of safety online. From an early age you can teach your child how to use the internet and what dangers to look out for.
If you would like to take part in the day or would like to find out more information, please visit, www.saferinternet.org.uk.