**Collaborative post**
As the internet becomes more and more essential in our daily lives, and it’s much more likely our children will need to use it for so many more things than we might even be able to imagine, it’s vital that we do what we can to teach them how to be safe online. We all want our children to explore and learn, especially when it comes to something as important as the internet, but we also want them to do it in a way that doesn’t cause them any harm. It’s a difficult path to walk, and it will always be a challenge, but there are some things you can do and measures you can put in place that will help to teach your children about internet safety. Read on to find out more.
Go Online With Them
One of the best things you can do to help your children stay safe online is to go online with them. You can let them do the exploring and navigating and choose the sites they need to go to for their homework or for fun, but you’ll be there watching over them. In this way, although they’ll feel in control, you can step in and prevent any issues before they occur. You can show them how to search for things safely, how to choose safe websites, and when they’re old enough, how to buy things online.
Although this will take a lot of time, it’s worth doing as not only will your children learn how to use the internet in a safe way, but you’ll learn too. You can work things out together and do research together. This will lead to plenty of open communication and sharing of ideas, which can ensure lessons are remembered for a long time to come.
Keep Personal Information Safe
If you can’t be with your child all the time because you’ve got other work or responsibilities, then it’s a good idea to teach them some of the most important lessons about being online before they even begin. Although there are a number to consider, perhaps the most crucial of all is about ensuring they keep their personal information to themselves and never share it with anyone. This includes their full name, address, phone number, and what school they go to.
The best thing to do is to let your child know that they should only ever share information about who they are and what they’re doing with people they know in real life. By the time they start using social media, this lesson will be well and truly ingrained in their brain, and they’ll be much safer as a result.
Install A VPN
A VPN (virtual private network) isn’t just something that will help to keep your children safe online, but this is definitely one of the benefits of using a VPN. A VPN is essentially a way of staying invisible online so you can’t be tracked by advertisers, but it also means that anyone trying to find out who you are won’t have much luck. Your information will be kept safe from hackers and scammers, in other words, and although you still need to teach your children how to recognise a scam email and how to protect themselves and their devices from cybercriminals, this extra level of protection and be a fantastic safety net.
Make sure you always start your VPN when you’re out of the house with phones and tablets, as well as when you’re using the wifi at home – make it a habit, and you and your children will hopefully never get caught out.
Teach Respect
Internet safety goes both ways, and it’s a great thing to teach your children how to be respectful to others online so that no one feels bullied or upset. It’s tempting to believe that no one will ever know if you say something mean or cruel or even frightening, but whether or not you’re ever discovered isn’t the point; you should never do it in the first place.
This is the lesson you should teach your children. It’s important that they understand the need to be kind and thoughtful online just as much as they would do the same thing in the real world. Teach them to read through their responses and make sure they’re not saying anything unpleasant, and if they’re upset or angry, teach them that it’s better to walk away rather than respond and then regret it. These might seem like adult things to learn, but the earlier children learn about online bullying and how not to be a part of it, the less of a problem it will be.
