It is important to talk to your children about online safety to encourage responsible behaviours and to help them develop digital resilience. Research shows that regular conversations at home help minimise the harm if things do go wrong online.

Below is a link to a New Zealand website that includes how to bring in some parental controls around your home internet and devices. Apps such as 'Family Link' and 'Google safe search' are explained. Also this link provides information to set up parameters for app use such as snapchat, facebook, YouTube etc.

https://www.keepitrealonline.govt.nz/parents/controls-and-settings/

There are three main types of controls to help you to filter, restrict and control the content your child can access:

• Network controls, set on the hub or modem from your ISP, which apply to all devices connected in the household.

• Device controls, which can be set in the device, such as laptop, iPad or smartphones.

• Platform or application controls, which can be set directly on the application settings, such as YouTube or Google.