The internet can be a wonderful, educational resource for teachers, parents and students. Unfortunately, it also comes with a fair amount of risk, particularly when it comes to young learners. We want your daughters to have a happy and healthy relationship with the internet. These five tips will help you develop strategies to keep your daughters safe from a variety of potential risks they may encounter online.
1. Home internet safety contract
Firstly, you need to make sure that your kids are aware of internet safety issues. It’s a good idea to dedicate part of a class to talking about how to behave on the internet at school and at home.
One way to do this is to develop an internet safety contract with at home. When you do this, you involve them and it will be more memorable, impactful and engaging than if you simply told them what not to do.
2. A safely strategy
Make sure to praise good safety practices throughout the school year. Younger children love collecting stickers and gold stars for safe behavior reinforce the seriousness of your message. Keep in touch with the school if you feel danger at home internet practices.
3. Child-safe resources
When using the internet in the classroom and at home, point your students to safe online resources. Instead of allowing younger students to research on YouTube, for example, which could have inappropriate material, direct them to SchoolTube, which is a more child-friendly video site, instead.
Also, if you use tablets at home, aim to use child-centered learning apps. This will give the children some fun screen time, and they will be less tempted to stray into more dangerous online territory. Voki, for example, allows children to create their own talking, animated characters – giving them the chance to play and practice English safely.
4. Open door policy
Cyberbullying and other issues can have a terrible effect on your daughters’ confidence and self-esteem. Pay attention to changes in behavior and speak to students and their parents if necessary.
If a child is having a negative experience online, one of the biggest problems is that they can feel alone, scared and unable to deal with it. For further support, read more on the NSPCC website.
5. Research and stay up to date
As a parent, you should stay up to date with online trends and be aware of the issues your kids might be facing. Thankfully, there are lots of useful online internet safety resources to help you do this.
Internet Matters provides a range of internet safety resources, which are useful for parents and teachers.
Net Aware is aimed at concerned parents and teachers and provides the latest in social media news.
The NSPCC offers advice and support to help you prevent or deal with online abuse, bullying and inappropriate behavior.
Article adapted from: Pearson Education Blog
Full article: https://goo.gl/UZ4JQb