PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Staying safe online
Set ground rules with your children for Internet use in your home:
- Discuss when and for how long your children can use the Internet.
- Agree how to handle personal information (name, address, telephone, e-mail).
- Talk about how to behave towards others when playing games, chatting, e-mailing or messaging. Use the good online etiquette!
- Agree what type of sites and activities are OK or not OK in our family.
- Follow the rules yourself! Or at least explain why the rules are different for adults.
Good online etiquette
- Remind children to practice good online etiquette and show kindness and respect to others online and never say mean things. Discuss ways your child can show kindness or respect.
Personal information
- Talk with your children about online safety and privacy.
- Discuss what ‘personal information’ means and the significance of maintaining some information private.
- Tell your child to be careful when sharing personal information (never to disclose their name, date of birth, address, school, phone number or photo without your approval).
- Advise them to use only a first name or nickname to identify themselves online.
- Explain that they should not send photographs of themselves that clearly show their identity.
Creating a strong password
- Teach your children to choose a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols to build a secure password that is at least 12 characters long. Never use everyday language, expressions, or private details like a phone number or family members’ names.
- Teach your children never to share their passwords or personal information with anyone online.
Online friends
- Teach your children not to accept friend requests from people they and you don’t know.
- Teach your children not to chat with unknown people online.
- Talk about the risks associated with meeting online “friends” in person.
- Tell them never to meet strangers they have met online without being accompanied by you or an adult you trust.
Sharing photos and videos/downloading new apps and games
- Teach your children to get permission before they take or post pictures or videos.
- Teach your children to request your permission before downloading any new games or apps.
- Make sure that your child only downloads games and apps that you’ve given the green light for.
Digital threats
- Talk with children about cyberbullying, its types and how to protect themselves against it. Let them know that the law protects cyberbullying victims, so they should tell you if they are being cyberbullied or know someone.
- Teach children about online suspicious activity and encourage them to ask for help if something seems unusual.
- Teach your children about phishing scams and warn them not to click on links in an email or social network message. Phishing is when hackers trick their victims by sending them false emails, texts, or phone calls. If you click on the link you access a website that could infect your computer with a virus or steal your bank account information or other sensitive data.
- Ask your child to stop watching or listening to anything online that affects them negatively or makes them feel worried, scared or sad. Tell them to ask for help and reassure them that they won’t get into trouble.
- Teach your children how to block unwanted people from contacting them and always tell you about any communication or conversation that was scary or hurtful.
- Teach your children never to respond to threatening messages, keep those messages as evidence and tell you about them.
- Advise your children to immediately exit any site that makes them feel uncomfortable or worried. Make sure that your children understand that they will not get in trouble if they tell you about a problem.
- Teach your children never to open an attachment or click on links in emails from someone they don’t know and tell you about it.
Fake news
- Discuss how to recognize a reliable source of information. How do they distinguish between reality and fiction?
- Make sure children reflect on what they read, hear or do online.
- Teach your children how to evaluate information and develop critical awareness when reading internet sources of information. By contrasting it with other sources on the same subject, you can demonstrate to your child how to verify information they uncover.
- Show them reputable websites where they may compare facts.
Using the internet
- Insist on their using the search engines for children (Kiddle, Kido’z, KidRex) and links given by educators or they have your permission.
- Decide together how much time your children will spend on their device per day or per week.
- Keep the computer in a common area where you can watch and monitor its use, not in their bedrooms. Monitor any time spent on smartphones or tablets.
- Bookmark children’s favorite sites for easy access.
- Tell your children that children under 13 are not allowed on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, youtube, etc. Be strict! Don’t encourage your child to break the rules. Learn to say NO!
- Talk with your children about the internet, its benefits and risks.
TEENAGERS
Set ground rules with your children for Internet use in your home.
Good online etiquette
Teach children to practice good online etiquette and to show kindness and respect to others online and never say mean things. Discuss ways your child can show kindness or respect:
- Never say anything online that they wouldn’t say to someone’s face.
- Create, post, and share videos, images and content responsibly.
- Protect their online reputation carefully—it is public and will follow them for life. Encourage children to “think before you post,” and use the safety settings provided to help manage their digital presence.
Personal information
- Talk with your children about internet safety and privacy.
- Remind your child to be careful when disclosing personal information and use only a first name or nickname to identify themselves online. Also, personal or inappropriate photos can attract online predators or could affect future educational or employment opportunities.
- Teach your children to protect accounts with strong, unique passwords that use a combination of at least 10 upper and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.
- Teach your children never to share their password with anyone. Tell them to change their passwords every three months and never use the same password across different accounts.
- Discuss if they want to use a password management system, which can remember unique passwords for all the accounts.
Online friends
- Remind your children not to accept friend requests from people they and you don’t know.
- Remind them not to chat with unknown people online.
- Talk about the risks associated with meeting online “friends” in person.
- Remind them to never meet in person with someone they met online and always tell an adult if a stranger is messaging.
- Teach your children to know their audience. Teach your children to set profiles to ‘private’ or ‘friends only,’ which restricts access only to those who have been granted permission to see it.
Sharing photos and videos/downloading new apps and games
- Remind your children to ask permission before they take or share photos or videos of others.
- Remind your children to ask your permission before they download any new apps and games.
- Ensure your child only downloads apps and games that you have approved.
Digital threats
- Discuss the various forms of cyberbullying with children, as well as how they can defend themselves. Inform them that law protects all the victims of cyberbullying and they should tell you if they are or know someone who is.
- Discuss threats and things to watch out for online. Highlight examples of cyberbullying cases so your child knows what to look out for. Also discuss what to do if they are in such situations.
- Teach your children how to block unwanted people contacting them and always tell you about any communication or conversation that was scary or hurtful.
- Teach your children never to respond to threatening messages and keep those messages as evidence.
- Remind your child to stop watching or listening to anything online that affects them negatively or makes them feel worried, scared or sad. Tell them to ask for help and reassure them that they won’t get into trouble.
- Advise your children to immediately exit any site that makes them feel uncomfortable or worried. Reassure them they will not get in trouble if they tell you about a problem.
- Encourage your children to ask for help if something seems unusual.
- Let them know you would like to help and they shouldn’t face difficult issues on their own and tell an adult they trust. Assure them that you won’t be angry with them or ban them from their devices.
- Remind your children about phishing scams and warn them not to open attachments or click on links in an email or social network message from someone they don’t know. Tell them how important is to let you know about such incidents.
Fake news
- Teach children that information on the internet is not always reliable. Ensure that children question what they see, hear or do online.
- Tell children how to evaluate information and recognize fake news. Give them some criteria such as how to look for odd URLs or site names, how to look for signals of low quality (spelling errors and sensational photos) and how to verify the existence of a “about us” section on a website. Also, ask them to examine their feelings. It may be an indication that they are being duped if the news they are reading makes them feel especially smug or extremely upset.
- Ask them to always check multiple sources before trusting. Show your child how to check information they find by comparing it to alternative sources on the same topic. Show them trusted sites they can use to compare information.
Using the internet
- Talk with children about shopping online. If you have allowed them to do so, ask them to shop only from secure sites.
- Teach your children how to shop safely online by telling them that a site is safe when it’s running on HTTPS. The site has a security certificate that safeguards visitors’ personal information by encrypting their data. You can verify if a site runs on HTTPS by double-checking the beginning of a URL in the address bar and also confirming if there’s a padlock next to it.
- Teach your children to keep privacy settings on. You can adjust your children’s devices accordingly or teach teens how to keep the settings private.
- Remind your children to be careful what they download and check the source. They may install malware on their device, which will disrupt computer operation, gather their personal information, or allow unauthorized access to their computer.
- Discuss the risks of connecting to public Wi-Fi networks. Hackers and cybercriminals consider public Wi-Fi, such as in malls and coffee shops, an easy access point to getting hold of your data. For this reason, always use a VPN (virtual private network,which keeps user’s identity hidden) when connecting to public Wi-Fi.
- Tell them that when using social networking sites like Facebook, TikTok, etc. they should be selective about what personal information and photos they post online.
- Tell them that when using social media independently, it is important that they state their correct age as social media sites often have additional layers of protection for users aged between 13 and 18, including who can view their profiles and send friend requests etc.
- Remind them never to leave their device unattended. Cybercriminals make money by stealing the data that’s stored in these devices.
- Remind them not to automatically click on links or open attachments in emails. Show them how to hover their mouse over the link to make sure it is going to a reputable address. Spelling mistakes, odd emails from popular companies, emails offering large sums of money and threatening messages urging quick action are some of the signs of a phishing email designed to install malware on your device. Tell your children to let you know about it immediately.
- Tell them to ask for help and report it.
- Remember that having an open line of communication with your children is essential and will give them the confidence to ask you for help when they need it.