3 in 4 parents haven't spoken to their child about staying safe online
West Yorkshire Police have given us some top tips for parents - saying it's crucial they have that conversation
Parents in West Yorkshire are being urged to sit down with their child and talk about staying safe online as new figures reveal three quarters have never done that.
The research by Apple to mark Safer Internet Day also found just 3 in 10 parents have put safeguards on their child's device.
For those that haven’t, most said this is because they put confidence in their child’s ability to do the right thing.
Just over 40 per cent of parents said they do monitor their child’s screen time but aren’t always aware of what they’re viewing.
Detective Superintendent Paula Bickerdike from West Yorkshire Police says it’s crucial parents speak to their children about the issue:
“Whilst it’s not a pleasant topic to consider, it’s really important to be aware that offenders will target children through well-worn grooming pathways such as contacting them on social media, gaming sites, live streaming and common chat-based apps.
“It’s about doing your research ahead of time if you’re moving into the space where your child will get access to the online world.
“It’s also about having the conversations with your child, letting them know you’re as interested in their online life as you are in their offline life. You wouldn’t send them out into the real world with no conversation or boundaries, so don’t do the same with the online world.
Tips for parents
DS Bickerdike shares some advice for parents who are unsure where to start:
*Before you even give your child the device, that’s a good opportunity to set parental controls
*Set good boundaries with your children from the get-go and decide what will and won’t be okay to you as a family.
*Consider what is appropriate in a real-world environment – for example, is it appropriate for your child to use their device alone in their bedroom? If you wouldn’t allow them to interact with strangers outside of the home and away from you, a good boundary could be that we don’t use devices alone or in bedrooms.
*Make sure your children know they can come to you when they’re unsure and that it’s never okay for another child or adult to tell them to keep their contact secret from you. Make sure they know they can always come to you with concerns. Let them know what should be seen as a red flag – i.e. ‘a friend would never say this to you’, ‘a friend would never ask you to keep this secret from your parents’.
*Some ideas for conversation starters when it comes to speaking to your children about what they’re up to online:
-‘Have you ever seen anything that makes you feel scared, angry or worried online?’
-‘What are you looking forward to using your device for today?’
-‘Has anyone ever said anything to you that upset you?
What trends are police dealing with?
Bickerdike says the force is currently seeing an increase in grooming across multiple platforms and offenders switching between them.
“For example meeting your child on one platform then finding them on another,” she says.
“Offenders will look to convince children that they know who are they already and that there’s a link to them and they’re a safe contact.
“So discourage your child from revealing personal information online that could be exploited such as where they go to school or having public lists of friends. Because a perpetrator could convince your child that they are another child that goes to the same school as them and then build up that trust.”
Another issue police are seeing nationally is sextortion, with the average age of victims just 14 years old. It’s where offenders ask for self-generated sexual images which are then used as leverage to blackmail the child.
They’re also seeing gaming platforms increasingly being used to strike up conversations with children using live stream and live chat functions.