Keeping Your Children Safe

I think as a parent, as soon as your child is born into the world, you get the instant need to protect them and keep them them safe from harm. As they grow up, I think this need only increases because they are introduced to more and more things that could either scare them or make them feel unsafe.

One of the things that seems to have been bought up a lot in recent years is the risks that come from using the internet ie clicking on links that could lead to sites that are not suitable for children and various social media outlets that have seen numerous kids becoming victims of online bullying. It was only a couple of months ago that I wrote a post asking whether modern technology is taking over the role of toys and books and it is these sorts of worries that make me step back and think about what I should be allowing my children to do online.

However in this day and age it is hard to avoid gadgets such as computers, tablets and smartphones. These are used on a daily basis by many people, me included. Even schools introduce our children to the world wide web from the begininng, I remember signing forms about allowing my children to go on the internet at school and there was a part to read through with my child about how they would use the internet safely whilst at school, this however does not take all the risks away. It saw only a couple of weeks ago an article in the guardian asking what role should schools play in keeping our kids safe online, especially from online bullying.

I myself feel it is my responsibility to teach my child the basics of internet safety and what they should be aware of, schools should then be able to reinforce what us as parents are saying but unfortunately no one can see what is going on with their children all of the time.

I will put my hands up and admit, that I haven't taught my children a lot about keeping safe online so far, something that I will rectify in the near future. So far they only use sites such as Cbeebies to play games and my eldest daughter who is seven, has used the site MyMaths to do her school homework on. They are aware not to click any other links and I am always sat right next to them supervising. However with my children getting older (need that pause button), I know they will need the internet to research things for school projects etc. Social media is one I hope I won't have to worry about for now, my children won't be getting phones of their own any time soon and if they want to talk to friends then they can at school or have them round to play, I think children are allowed to join these sites at far too young an age, I always say what happened to the traditional playing and talking!!

So I have researched a lot the past few weeks on just how I can increase my childs safety when on :

* Secure things with passwords and restrictions, stopping your children buying apps etc and running up high bills!!

* Using internet security suites and parental control software, allowing you to keep track of what websites your children are looking at, it also means that you can block them from seeing certain websites and keep an eye on things from your smart phone. You can even get software with features allowing you to see snippets of videos your children have watched online and see the keywords that they are searching.

* Talk to your children, a simple concept but a lot of parents don't do it, explain to them about being cautious who they talk to, about not sharing passwords, about not clicking links to other sites etc

I am now looking into being able to put restrictions on my iPad as this is something my children use frequently. I feel there should be more education about internet safety, not just for kids but parents too, I think it is a subject that you can never have too much information on!!

Have you taught your children about internet safety, do you have restrictions etc set up on all of your gadgets and do you have any tips to parents like me who aren't as internet savvy as others??

xxxx

*This post a PR collabaration*