Tips for keeping kids safe online is a paid collaborative post with Child Control by Salfeld. As a parent, one of my major concerns has always been keeping my kids safe online, especially as they have grown up as digital natives unlike me as the internet wasn’t even created when I was born! I grew up in the era where parents were concerned about stranger danger in the flesh and the only inappropriate content I ever saw was when I snuck down after the 9pm watershed on TV and speaking of TV there was 3 channels! So as you can see things have changed dramatically in very few years.
I have learned as I have parented when it has come to setting boundaries and guidelines for my children and protecting their online safety over the years. Even from the beginning when I started blogging I was aware of just how precious their personal information was and they have always been known by the pseudonyms Maxi and Mini even now as teens!
My Top Tip for Keeping Your Child Safe Online
I have found that communication is the key to digital safety and my children and that one constant over the years, one constant has been talking and listening with them and others who are experts in this area. I have ensured that I am well-versed in the applications and social networking sites or games they use.
I asked my eldest what he remembered about us trying to protect them when it came to using technology and the internet growing up:
You always listened to us, even when we talked your ear off about Minecraft or Fortnight and we knew that we could chat to you about anything. Nothing was off limits. You also made us justify any requests we made and were flexible.
Maxi – aged 19
Other tips for keeping your kids safe online include:
Parental Controls
Using a parental control system such as Salfed (who have been pioneers in the field of parental control software in German-speaking countries since 1998) is essential. As much as I trust my children, I always wanted to set boundaries and I know from experience that young people will always push those and therefore, a parental control app will help provide a safety net and allow you a little more peace of mind. I always stressed to my children that it wasn’t about monitoring their online activity as much as enforcing our family’s agreed screen time rules (which has changed as they grew older).
It allowed me to set the rules in stone, such as setting usage and time limits, stopping them from viewing inappropriate websites or accessing social networks, preventing downloads and ensuring privacy settings.
Parenting control has come a long way since we started using them and Salfed is so flexible with the ability to set time limits based on devices (such as smartphones or tablets), applications (such as social media sites), games or even cumulative usage. This means that you can tailor it to your needs and have a full overview of your child’s online activities as well as monitor their behaviour.
Don’t Share Personal Information
It seems really obvious to us adults that means, name, address, phone number, school and age, but for young children, they really need help in sleeping this out for them. Come up with a nickname or pseudonym that isn’t linked to any of their likes or includes their pet’s name as predators will often ask how they came up with their username (they are experts in grooming children). One of my boy’s nicknames was as obscure as Snubtunic and he used this for all video games and as his username. The same for passwords and making sure they never share them. I never separated online or offline life, when we talked about safety it was all-inclusive. You wouldn’t talk to strangers offline, so don’t do it online.
Real life is online and offline for children – they are digital natives and don’t differtiate.
Keep it Age Appropriate
I think that it gets much harder to protect our children online the older they get, as often they are much more aware and up-to-date than us parents. They might not feel it but they need more guidance than younger children. They are often exposed to unsavoury trends, violent content and advertising.
There is a reason that lots of social media platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram have age restrictions. Peer pressure can be immense and often children will tell you that they feel felt out because their mates have access. What I would say is that for my boys the urge to have Snapchat came from the group messaging side of it as all their mates were using it to communicate.
As an example, Snapchat reaches over 90% of our 13 to 24-year-olds, but as parents, we often think they use it purely for images that disappear. Whereas my boys’ urge to have Snapchat came from the group messaging side of it as all their mates were using it to communicate. So make sure you are up-to-date, most apps like Snapchat will have a parents guide or family centre with further parental controls you can implement in the app for younger teenagers.
- Snapchat family center
- TikTok parental controls
- Twitter (X) parental consent
- Instagram Parental Supervision
Overview
It can seem unrelating and hard to look after your children in the online world, but communication and education are your best friends. Keep talking and listening and access all the trusted sources of information that you can. Be prepared to trust your intuition and know that we don;t all get things right first or second time and that as we learn so do they. Set family rules but be prepared to change them as they start to grow up of things change.