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At the start of July and as the school holidays approach, Get Safe Online – a service commissioned by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and North Wales Police to share helpful information and advice with the people of the area – is launching a ‘Safer Kids’ campaign to encourage children across the area to use the internet safely, securely and with confidence. Whether for school, to game or to socialise with their friends, kids are using the internet more and more and it is vital that they do so safely.
Get Safe Online is a leading source of unbiased, factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety in the UK and its advice for the campaign includes:
- Sit down and talk regularly with your child about their online activities and get them to show you what they’re doing.
- Steer your child towards safe searching, websites and apps. Check what they’re watching and/or sharing on streaming sites like YouTube and TikTok.
- Familiarise yourself with new game and social media trends, especially those attracting negative publicity because they may be violent, encourage gambling or leave the way open for messaging random strangers, enabling potential grooming or other types of coercion.
- Don’t underestimate the part social media and messaging apps play in your child’s life, nor how what they experience online can make them feel.
- Gaming, social media, picture/video sharing and many other apps and websites have age limits for a reason, so you should make sure your child doesn’t access those for which they’re underage.
- Consider setting up parental control software and apps on computers, mobile devices and games consoles.
- Warn your child about confidential information, personal details and images/video about themselves or others they share in posts, profiles, messages and chats.
- Without being controlling, keep an eye on your child’s online activities and know how to recognise the signs of something not being right.
Tony Neate, CEO at Get Safe Online commented: “The internet has so many benefits and for our children to have the opportunity to use it to support their studies, interact with their friends and even to shop has become second nature.
“However, as with so many other things they do, it’s really important that we teach them to go online safely. Our campaign this month focuses on key advice to help all our children use the online world in a respectful, safe and secure way.”
Andy Dunbobbin, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales said: “Over the summer holidays, many parents and guardians can naturally be busy juggling a job, family and a home, and we can all sometimes leave children to their own devices, on their own devices.
“But we can all take a few simple steps to ensure our families are using the internet safely and I would urge all people looking after children to follow this advice from Get Safe Online, which is a service I am proud to commission as part of my plan to see a North Wales where crime is further reduced and where people are kept as safe as possible.”
For further tips and advice visit the Get Safe Online website – getsafeonline.org - and search ‘safeguarding children’.