Tips for Parents

Tips for Parents

• Talk to your child about who they talk to online and encourage them not to talk to people they do not know in person. Negotiate boundaries and sensitively discuss issues around the concept of ‘friends’ do they actually know all the people on their list? Show them how to manage their friends list – setting who may see what.
• Try to understand and guide your child’s online behaviour, some sites attempt to upset people or to urge them to do something – such as sites that encourage eating disorders – help them to recognise and avoid this.
• Stay calm if you discover misconduct between your child and someone online, investigate, keep evidence and seek help if needed.
• As part of a wider discussion about sex and relationships cover how people may use the internet to explore sexuality – which may include sexual chatting. Encourage your child to come to you if anything they receive makes them feel uncomfortable.
• Know how to report if necessary (www.hotline.ie)
• Set up a family email address for use when filling in forms online or buying things
• Set clear guidelines for your children. Talk to your children about the risks – explain that there is no authority or nobody out there in the Internet regulating what happens in cyberspace – we have to look after ourselves.
• Be aware of location technology contained in smartphones you may want to talk to your child about not sharing their location.
• Games - Be aware that it is possible to go online via some games consoles and devices. Check the Pegi games ratings(google search - pegi ratings) to find out if the game is suitable for your child. Make sure your children use games from reputable sources (watch out for fake sites)Online gaming can be compulsive for some – they should be part of a healthy balanced lifestyle with exercise and rest. Use parental controls on games consoles to restrict voice chat or disable online credit payments or applications you feel are inappropriate.
• Familiarise yourself with the chat program your child uses, and its built in safety functions.
• Install reliable security software and use it by keeping it up to date Know where to get help if needed.
• Around one in every 100/200 emails can contain malware (a piece of malicious software which takes over a person’s computer) or phishing attacks (attempts to access your personal details, such as usernames and passwords): install reputable antivirus or firewall software on your computer or mobile and make sure you keep this and operating systems up to date
• Use parental controls to restrict or block access to social networking sites; device-level (on each device, phone or games console, tablet, Kindle etc) parental controls mean you can set up unique settings per user so that you can restrict access to particular networks based on the user
• Explain why it’s important to be honest about your age online, for example in signing up to social networking sites – advertising and other content will be aimed at the age the user says they are 19.
• Explain the risks and show you trust them, but explore together how to stay safe Ensure that you and your children check for the padlock symbol in the window frame of the browser - only 25% of 12-15s do this when visiting new sites according to Ofcom.
• Talk to your children about safe online shopping and supervise purchases with younger children – explain that criminals can set up online shops that are only there to steal money, so check out the website carefully, be careful when disclosing any personal/financial/payment information and ensure that the site is using a secure payment method. It is not a good idea to let your child use your card alone.
• Check bank and card transactions regularly for unrecognised transactions
• Install reputable internet security software on your computers and mobile devices; keep this and operating systems up to date – security software provided by your internet service provider or third party can tell you whether a site is secure or not.