Online Safety Information for Parents

Many young people are quick to pick up technology, and technology changes fast, so parents can feel their children know more about it than them. What is important for parents is to remember they have the wisdom, experience and knowledge to support their children.

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.

What can parents do to support their child to keep safe online?

Check you know what applications your children are using, especially chat rooms and games played with others online. Ask who their online friends are. Get them to teach you about how things work.
Get involved in your children’s online activity at home and TALK regularly to your child about what they are doing online.
Support the school’s online safety teaching and policies and take an active interest in what your children are doing in computing at school.
Wherever possible, encourage your children to use computers, gaming devices, tablets and other technology in a shared living space rather than in their bedroom.
Use the resources on this site to help you find out more about the potential dangers and risks, and specific information about the most common applications and games that children are using online.

Here are some helpful links to support you to keep your children safe online:

Click here for advice from Childnet about how to open up a conversation with your child about online safety.

Click here for a wealth of information from internetmatters.org about keeping your child safe online.

Click here for online safety information for parents from CEOP.

Click here for a wealth of information from the NSPCC.

If you would like to report a concern about something that your child has seen, or experienced online, you can do so using the following links:

Click here to report a concern via CEOP.

Click here to report a concern via Childnet

Parental controls are designed to help protect children from inappropriate content online, such as pornography or other adult content. These controls can be used in a number of ways, e.g. to help ensure that your children access only age-appropriate content; to set usage times; and to monitor activity.

Click here for some helpful information about setting up parental controls.

Here are some of the the most popular online activities that we know children currently interact with. Click on the guides below for further information for parents about what they involve and how to keep your child safe.

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