Online safety tips from Directgov
The Internet has made it easier for abusers to exploit children and young people. However, the internet can be perfectly safe if you take precautions. We bring you advice from the Directgov website to show you how to keep your child safe online.
Grooming
Grooming is when a child abuser tries to start an online relationship with a child. Blocking access to unsupervised chat rooms, blogs and forums is a good way to help stop this.
Sometimes though, groomers pretend to be children in supervised chat areas - then continue a relationship in personal conversations.Once trust has been established the abuser may try to organise a meeting with the child, or exploit them by sending them pornographic images (or by using a webcam). They may even use blackmail to persuade the child to do something they don't want to.
It is vital that children know that not everyone on the internet is actually who they claim to be.
What you can do
- Make sure your child knows never to give out personal details online or let people they have met contact them by phone or instant messaging. However, try not to be too hard on children if they have given their email address to a stranger otherwise they may feel scared to talk to you about similar issues in future.
- Learn the language of chat so you understand what your child is chatting about. Children tend to use abbreviations when chatting online. Try signing up to a chat room, forum, blog or Instant Messenger yourself to see how they work.
- Show the same interest in your children's online friends as their real life friends and be sure to go along with your child if they have organised to meet an online friend in person
- Search for appropriate sites for you and your children to surf together. Use child-friendly search engines but be aware that not all of them are 100 per cent safe - there have been instances of some advertising pornographic sites. Restrict online activity to moderated chat areas which are designed for children
- Place the computer in a family room so your child's online activities can be monitored. Regularly check the history folder on your browser as it contains a list of previously visited sites - if you find an unsuitable site in the history, delete it.
Find out how to access and delete items in your browser history
What to do if you think there may be a problem
Let your children know that they can tell you if any chat makes them feel uncomfortable, worried or scared - let them know that you won't blame them
If you suspect an abuser may be grooming your child, or your child is being stalked or harassed, you should contact the local police or CEOP
Protecting your child's email
Remember that spam is an email sent at random - your child has done nothing wrong if they are receiving pornographic spam.
You can make email safer by using an internet service provider (ISP) that filters or buy spam filtering software.
Try setting up a separate family email address to register for services or competitions - this address will then get most of your spam and not your child's emails
