It’s just as important for parents to teach their children about cyber safety as it is about teaching them how to swim or to safely cross the road - Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, SchoolTV.me

This newsletter follows on from Dave Scott’s recent article about children and their relationship with social media. I am drawing on resources from SchoolTV as well as re-sharing some material from a previous newsletter, in which I summarised the advice of Internet Safety and Risk Assessment Consultant, John Parsons.

SchoolTV has a significant number of articles on Social Media. I was able to discover these by simply searching the term ‘social media’ on the Medbury SchoolTV homepage. I would encourage you to do the same. In this newsletter I will briefly summarise one of these articles: Social Media and Staying Safe online by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg.

• It is important to remember that during adolescence the influence of peers is increasingly significant and it is natural for adolescents to withdraw from parents for a time. A key part of interacting with peers in this era is through online social networking.

• It is also important to remember that young people see little difference between their online and offline worlds. Social networking is often a beneficial way to connect, interact and collaborate online. Whilst there are certainly risks associated with social media and online networking, maximising the benefits of social networking is an important way of protecting adolescents from the associated risks.

• Parents must teach, monitor and protect their children online. Dr Michael Carr-Gregg encourages parents to engage with social media parenting resources as much as possible so that they can support their children: “It’s just as important for parents to teach their children about cyber safety as it is about teaching them how to swim or to safely cross the road”.

Supporting this advice, John Parsons advocates for parents to be an active part of their child’s social media accounts. John suggests that this continues until your child has been at high school for one and a half to two years. Here are his key tips:

• Only let your child set up a social media account if they are old enough to do so. If your child lies about their age then this is encouraging dishonesty. It will also have implications in that the content they will be exposed to through the social media account will not be age appropriate for them.

• Make sure all social media accounts are private.

• Have your child’s family members, such as aunts and uncles as well as yourself, join their account so that there is an adult presence to support and monitor your child’s usage of the account.

• Know the friends your child has as members of their account. Your child should only ever accept friend requests from people they know, even if their friends seem to know the person.

• Have an adult in your child’s profile picture - again, this sends the message that there is an adult presence to support and monitor your child’s usage of the account.

• Set up a ‘To Publish’ folder where your child places any material they wish to post online. Your child needs to show you these before they can post them so that you can ensure they are appropriate.

• Turn off all comments on YouTube accounts. This will stop people your child does not know potentially making hurtful comments.

• John does not encourage live streaming for primary aged children but if it does happen, he encourages a parent to be present, otherwise it can be a very vulnerable situation to manage if people watching are unkind or make inappropriate suggestions. See John’s video: Livestreaming - understand risks for children.

• Make it very clear that you will be checking your child’s online accounts, and their phone messages and usage if they have a phone, on a regular basis such as every second day or so. This will let your child know that you are monitoring what they are doing to support them and that secretive behaviour is not okay.

• As your child gets older and is applying for jobs, talk to them about the fact that businesses will check their online profiles. It is really important that their online identity is promoting positive interactions with family and friends as well as community involvement rather than anti-social behaviour or language, or photos and posts that do not represent their values. See John’s video: Teenagers and future proofing for employment.

Please also see the documents John has written: ‘Cyber safety tips for parents’ and ‘Advice for parents of younger children’.

I hope that these resources provide you with some valuable information and guidance as you support your child’s online social networking.

Image sourced from: SchoolTV

Jenelle Hooson

Jenelle is a fully registered member with NZAC (New Zealand Association of Counsellors).

If you wish to discuss the services the School Counsellor can provide, please talk to your child’s homeroom teacher or make contact with Jenelle directly: jenelle.hooson@medbury.school.nz