1. Teach your children about online threats
Without educating your children about why they need to be safe online, they may see the protective steps as a hindrance – especially if it gets in the way of their online activity. By teaching them about threats like child predators and online scammers you can ensure your kids take their online safety as seriously as you do.
2. Set up passwords & multi-factor authentication
One of the first steps, when a child receives a new device that connects to the internet, is to set up secure passwords and multi-factor authentication that will protect their personal information from hackers and scammers.
3. Don’t share personal information online
Teach your kids not to share any personal information (such as their full name, address, school or date of birth) with other people online.
4. Install parental controls and filters
While there are a number of pros and cons of parental controls, in certain instances parental controls are a good solution to keep your kids protected. We’d recommend installing controls that simply protect your children without tracking their online activity in detail or hindering their online experience. Implementing filters like Google Safe Search can also be a good step to protect children from inappropriate content.
5. Encourage kids to talk to you
If something or someone makes your child feel uncomfortable online, encourage them to talk to you about it so that you can help them deal with the threat.
6. Look out for signs of online abuse
Some children may not feel comfortable talking to you about uncomfortable experiences online so it’s a good idea to know what the signs of online abuse are so you can spot them in your child and intervene early on.
Some common signs of cyberbullying are
- Hiding/changing device screen when you can see it
- Seeming nervous or jumpy when there’s a notification or message on their device
- Abruptly shutting off devices mid-use
And some common signs of online grooming are
- A significant change in the time they spend on their devices
- Sexual knowledge, comments and behaviours beyond what you would expect for their age
- Being secretive about their online activity and friends
7. Only talk to people they know in real life
Ultimately, many online safety tips are designed to keep children from talking to scammers, predators or cyberbullies posing as someone else. Teach your children to only talk to people they know are real because they have met them in real life and they’ll be much safer from these threats.
CAP Certified’s child authentication platform does this for you by only allowing your child to communicate with children who have records with the local authority – making it impossible for scammers and predators to pose as schoolchildren themselves.
We all want to keep children safe this Christmas. Let’s make sure they can enjoy everything that’s great about the internet by creating a walled online environment where children are as safe as they are in their schools by following these safety tips.
If you want to find out more about the CAP Certified platform or join our beta test, use the forms below to get in touch!
