National Online Safety Resources & Parent Advice links
Reddit is commonly referred to as “the front page of the internet”, with millions of users continually creating/sharing videos, images, memes and much more on this forum-style site. This free guide for parents & carers covers what they need to know about the platform to help safeguard their children from potential online risks including; online payments, inappropriate and potentially harmful content, trolling, fake news and more.
Please help us spread the message by re-tweeting our Reddit guide for parents & carers here:
https://twitter.com/natonlinesafety/status/1044926653846245377
For more information regarding our NOS Certified School Community package, developed in line with the new 2018 DfE Statutory Guidance, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, please complete the form here: https://nationalonlinesafety.com/online-safety-certified-schools-accreditation/
Online-Safety Child’s Guide to the Internet
1. Always keep to the agreed times of day to be online, the length of time to be online, and the areas that you can visit.
2. Never give any passwords to anyone outside your family – even friends!
3. Never give out any of the following information during a ‘chat’ session or when accessing online forums or message boards:
- Your real name (use a pseudonym – a false name)
- Your parents’ or brothers’/sisters’ real names
- Home address
- Home telephone number
- Parents’ work address/telephone number
- The name, address or location of your school
4. Never send an online person any photographs or anything else without first checking with a parent
5. Never arrange for someone you meet online to visit your house
6. Never arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer user without parental permission. Any such meeting should be in a public place and at least one parent should accompany you. Your house should remain occupied during the meeting to prevent burglary.
Guidance for parents – Keeping your child safe online
Monitoring what your son or daughter does on the Internet can sometimes be a daunting task, but it is important to remember that (when used correctly) the internet can be a positive learning experience.
The following guidelines have been produced with this in mind.
- Make online time a family activity.
- Check filtering of mobile data as well as broadband – but do not rely on this
- Make sure that you know the services your children use
- Keep the computer in a family room and ensure all devices are removed from the child’s bedroom at night.
- Go online yourself so that you are familiar with and understand the potential benefits and risks associated with Internet access
- Get to know your child’s ‘online friends’ just as you do their other friends
- Let them feel they can discuss any worries with you – even if they have made bad choices
- If you are concerned about your child’s online activities, talk to them about it
- Develop an agreed set of family Internet rules. Use ‘Family rules’ document for an example (see link).
- Make sure that your children are familiar with, and adhere to, your ‘Family Internet Rules’ which should be posted near the computer as a reminder
- Monitor your children’s compliance with these rules
- Should you become aware of the presence of child pornography online, report this immediately to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, on telephone number: 0800 800 500