2. Keeping Children Safe Online
2. Keeping Children Safe Online
One thing that we hear about a great deal is that the ‘online world’ is a completely different world and parents and carers refer to being online and in the real world. For our children, ‘online life’ is real life, so we need to think of it as another place where young people spend time rather than it being a different world. Wherever our children are like in the cinema, park or at school; we as parents need to understand this ‘space’ that our children frequent.
As with adults, young people's happiness is linked to being connected to other. As adults, we use WhatsApp and Facebook to catch up with people and make plans for the future. It shows us what our friends are up to in an instant without having to worry that we haven't text them or called them in a while, it's the same for children. When they go online, they can play games together, they can video chat and build a whole world together in Roblox. This is where we need to be, having those conversations with our children.
We need to be positive about the Internet and all the good that it can bring, rather than just the negative. In a digital romance study, it was found that young people want the adults in their life to talk to them about the opportunities brought about by the Internet and not just the risks, and that they want their parents and carers to share their own experiences and make mistakes with them so that they can learn from this.
Even as an adult, it can be difficult to navigate the Internet and we're always learning through our own experiences. It is the same for our children, we just need to be there to help teach them in the best way that we can and try and find that balanced view for and show positivity about the Internet. This way, when you do have something negative and serious to point out to them, they will be more likely to take note as mum or dad are normally positive about the Internet it must be a serious matter and them not just trying to ruin my fun.
