Cybersmart@Home

For the rest of the year, we will have a segment in the newsletter looking at being smart online and how as whānau, you can support it. Netsafe recommends seven steps to enhance digital parenting knowledge and reinforce the key online safety concepts.

Step 4: Agree and Set Expectations

Sometimes young people don’t know the rules or how to moderate their own lives.

Discuss the experience your child might have online including the benefits and challenges. Talk to your child about the type of behaviours you’d like them to adopt and reinforce that what they do leaves a permanent digital footprint.

Set expectations about:

• A balanced amount of time

• The apps and sites that are appropriate to use

• How their behaviour impacts others

• What types of information is safe to share

• Where they should go for advice, including you, another trusted adult, a teacher, or Netsafe.

The conversation will be different depending on the age and stage of your child - and what you feel comfortable discussing. Technological options like parental controls can help, but they work best when teamed with online safety education.

Setting aside time to create a Family Safe Online Treaty is a practical step the whole family can be involved in. It allows you to talk about what you value as a family and what suits you all best.

Young people also need to understand that everyone faces challenges using the internet. Talk about the issues you have encountered even if it’s as simple as you forgot your password and explain how you resolved it.

Encourage your child to talk to you about what they are doing and when anything is worrying them. Regardless of what it is and what caused it, try not to overreact.

For further information visit netsafe.org.nz/agree.