Internet Safety Talk
Wesley Smith, Charlbury’s Community Police Officer, and his colleague Chris Jones from Thames Valley Police ran two very informative sessions for parents in school today about Internet Safety.
They stressed the importance of being aware of how your child is using the Internet and of making sure that the computer is placed somewhere where you can see it, that children never give out any personal information online, and that privacy settings are always set to ‘sharing with friends only’.
They also reminded us that children can access Facebook and other social networking sites if they have smartphones, so it’s not always easy to monitor what’s going on. Also, watch out for interactive gaming – particularly with boys; sometimes they could be chatting to strangers.
It’s also a good idea to spot check your Web browser’s cookies and history when your child is online to make sure they have nothing to hide. Also be aware that Apple gadgets like the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad have slightly different privacy settings. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4213 for instructions.
Finally, keep an eye out for any changes in your child’s behaviour which might suggest that they are being bullied online, such as being very quiet (which is a common reaction), or becoming angry. Cyber-bullying doesn’t stop at the end of the school day.
For more information and advice see http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ – the CEOP Safety Centre is the place to get help if you are concerned about your child.
What you can do
Lots of practical tips on how to set up parental controls and other ways of keeping your child safe online can be found on the BBC Webwise website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/topics/safety-and-privacy/internet-safety-for-kids.
Google’s safety tools page - http://www.google.co.uk/familysafety/tools.html – provides a step-by-step guide on how to switch Google SafeSearch to “strict” mode, and keep it locked, to help filter out explicit text as well as images. You can do this easily in your Google search settings – it takes less than a minute, I just tried it! It also tells you how to turn on ‘Safety Mode’ in YouTube – again, this is quick and easy to do once you know how.
Many thanks to Wesley and Chris for sharing this information with us.
