Many of the risks, faced by young children, have no criminal intent but can be very upsetting for the child and those around them.

The main potential risks to any child with access to the Internet are:

Content (age inappropriate material)

Contact (People who wish to bully or abuse)

Conduct (Risks created by their own behaviour)

Commercialism (The hidden costs of advertising)  

Unsuitable Content

Children can be upset by things they may come across on line, filtering out this content can be achieved by using parental controls.

Parental controls are features provided by ISP’s, Operating Systems, Browsers, Social Networks and within Internet enabled devices. These controls can be used to limit access, set time limits for usage and monitor activity.

However, no filter or parental control is, on its own, 100% effective.

Parental Controls

Internet Service Providers (ISP's) - BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin Media

http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/parental-controls

Operating Systems

Mac-OS

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-mac-parental-controls.html

Windows 7

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/windows-7-parental-controls-setup.html

Windows 8

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-set-up-family-safety-controls-in-windows-8.html

Browsers - Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome

http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/safety-tools-on-online-services/browsers

Social Networks

http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/safety-tools-on-online-services/social-networks

TV On Demand

http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/safety-tools-on-online-services/tv-on-demand

Devices - Smartphones, Gaming Devices and Tablets 

http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/parents/parental-controls.aspx

Contact/Conduct

These risks are in the main created by their own or others behaviour while on line. It is therefore very important that you speak to your children about staying safe and acting responsible when using the Internet.

This aspect forms part of the new national curriculum, so any conversation you have will reinforce what they are learning in school.

This is based mainly around the “SMART” rules. (Safe, Meet, Accepting, Reliable and Tell).

Start a Conversation

http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/have-a-conversation

New National curriculum in E-safety  Key Stage 1 & 2

Commercialism

Children can get into difficulty by inadvertently running up bills when playing games on-line. Some games which are initially free to download are actually just a trail program. These are either time limited or have limited content, to continue playing or to download the full program involves payment.

Some games are financed through advertising, within the game there might be advertising for a real-life product, or the whole game might be designed to promote particular products or brands.

To prevent unexpected expense it is best to set rules at the outset regarding the downloading of software and apps.

You may well find it useful for the family as a whole to have a set of positive rules to reinforce your family values when on-line. 

A sample of such a set of rules can be found here. 

http://www.digizen.org/digicentral/family-agreement.aspx

SMART Rule Quiz 

Not sure how much your child already knows - take the SMART rules quiz. (You could even try it yourselves)

http://www.childnet.com/young-people/primary/smart-rules-quiz

Know IT All 

Do you feel your children know more about computers than you?

Catch up with this useful guide. (Click image to connect)

Parents Guide to new Device Technology 

http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/parents-guide-to-technology

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