Online Safety - Parental Resources

Internetmatters.org is a great place to find a wealth of information about the online world. They have a whole section on Cyberbullying available to read/watch and download.

Did you know that 1/8 twelve to fifteen year olds have been bullied on social media? That makes it as likely to happen as face-to-face bullying according to Ofcom. 

Not sure how to talk to your child about cyberbullying? Childnet has some really helpful conversation starters and top tips for dealing with cyberbullying. 

The impact cyberbullying can have on each child differs greatly, and it's not always easy to know just how much it is affecting someone in the first instance. Here is a helpful page on starting the conversation with your child.

The internet is no stranger to harmful content. Safer Schools App network monitors risks and has recently picked up on something called 'Rule 34' - an internet concept where users draw or depict their favourite characters or cartoons in sexually inappropriate ways - sometimes referred to as 'fan-art'.

This can be distressing for children who are searching for items related to their favourite cartoons online, and can shake their view of the world. Find out more about how to manage that here.  

As employers and educators turn to social media nowadays to find out more about potential candidates, our past posts or conversations can follow and have a negative impact on how we are seen. 

Internet matters have provided some great resources for helping understand how this happens and how to teach young people to maintain a positive presence online. 

Sending illicit messages via social media or messaging apps happens, whether those are text or images (or both!), and it is becoming increasingly more common in young people. Knowing how to handle it if it happens can make the difference between an incident never happening again, or things getting out of hand. Find out more here. 

'So you got naked online...' is a resource for young people who may find themselves in a situation where they (or someone else) have put an image or video online and lost control over who is sharing it. It aims to offer children, young people and parents advice, and provides strategies to support issues related to incidents such as these. 

Getting caught up in a social media hole happens to us all - no matter what age we are. It's so easy to continue clicking link after link, letting the time slip by. This can also impact our wellbeing and how we see ourselves - particularly if the content is not overtly positive. The Diana Award offers some advice on how to manage screen time. 

The Pressure for Perfection resource kit is designed for children aged 11+ and covers topics such as digital image manipulation, spotting pressures from being online and the dangers of misrepresentation on social media on the self and self identity. 

MediaSmart have provided a number of guides and a film for different ages of children to provide an engaging introduction to body image and advertising. These outline how we as guardians and parents can play a key role in supporting a body-positive childhood and spot those media manipulated images. 

There are a number of ways children's data is collected - through interactions with a smart toy to the setting up of social media. Being aware of how this is collected and where is a good starting point to ensure you child's data stay safe. This article helps you to understand why you child may be at risk of identity theft and what to do about privacy online. 

Being part of an online community can be a great thing, but too much time spent looking at unhelpful influencers, who aren't transparent about why they are posting advertisements, or not being fully truthful in their videos can be damaging. Find out more about the impact influences can have here. 

ThinkUKnow have provided some helpful information around helping your child understand themselves and the world online from an LGBTQ+ context. For many young people the internet can provide them with the opportunity to find out more about themselves or meet like-minded people, but as parents we need to ensure this can happen safely.