Safe Internet Surfing - A Guide for Parents, Carers and Practitioners
If your child is using their computer to log on to the internet,
how sure can you be that they are surfing safely?
As we all know, computers can be great educational and fun tools
for kids, but there are dangers attached to using the internet.
Be aware
Many adults have no idea what children are viewing on the
internet. They may be unaware that a child they care for has
encountered violent or sexual contents or is engaged in
inappropriate conversation with strangers.
By taking an active role in supervising how children use the
internet, you can help to ensure that they continue to have fun on
the net and find the information they are looking for, while
keeping safe from some of the medium's dangers.
Steps to safe surfing
- Write down a list of rules and position it in
a place close to the computer where they can be easily read.
- Don't site computers in places where it is difficult to
monitor what your child is viewing - if possible, have a
family room where the computer is located.
- Get to know your child's online friends in the
same way that you would get to know their school or neighbourhood
friends.
- Tell you child it is important to make you
aware of distasteful pictures or proposals that they may
encounter on the net.
- Notify the police of any distasteful
approaches made to your child.
Help them to help themselves
Of course you many not always be able to supervise how children
use the internet, especially if they access the net using mobile
technology.
Take a look at our advice for
Practitioners,
Parents and Carers or
Children and Young People on these social networking pages for
guidelines to help children keep themselves safe.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and
Facebook have jointly created an application which enable users to
access advice and guidance and report concerns directly to
CEOP.
Useful Links
In addition, the UK government has launched a website to give
additional advice to children about chatting safely on the
Internet. Your child can access this site by visiting www.thinkuknow.co.uk
The Internet Watch Foundation
Web surfers who see any illegal images on the internet can
report this to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). This
Foundation works in partnership with the police, both Scottish and
UK Governments and the internet industry to minimise the
availability of illegal content on-line. This can include
child abuse images, criminally obscene images and criminally racist
content. If you are exposed to images or content which you
think fits into any of these categories do not ignore it - report
it!
This page has been reproduced with thanks to Strathclyde
Police.
