One third of children have rarely, if ever, spoken to their parents about internet safety, despite many spending up to four hours a day online.
ThatÂ’s according to Cybersafe Ireland, which says weÂ’re failing to protect children.
Almost 7 in 10 teachers say they donÂ’t feel equipped to teach online safety.
Juliette Gash reports;
Kids spending hours online, yet 1/3 don't talk to parents about safety @CyberSafeIE says some fibbing about talking to strangers pic.twitter.com/W6YLFnWZhD
— Juliette Gash (@JulietteGash) September 14, 2017
Top Tips that are suggested for parents include:
· Start the conversation now! As soon as your child shows interest in your phone or tablet, talk about what's okay and not okay to do online in an age appropriate manner. Talk to your kids about what they do and see online as often as possible.
· Do your research. Check out the apps and games that your child is using or wants to use. Download it yourself or watch videos on YouTube about it and see what functionality it has. Look, in particular, at whether it has a chat facility, how to apply safety /privacy settings and how to report abuse.
· Agree the rules. Put appropriate boundaries in place and apply them consistently, e.g. where they can use their devices, who can be on their friends lists, what behaviour is acceptable, and not to share location. Most importantly keep an eye on what your children are doing online.
Webwise is a great place to start, for parents and teachers, who want to educate themselves on what children are doing online.
