Safe Surfing Tips!
Summer vacation means more free time for students. If your child has access to a device that is internet-enabled, please consider the following tips and resources:
Educate yourself and your children.
Digital citizenship is a learning process and your child will need sustained support from parents and teachers.
Establish rules and expectations.
Have you thought about the rules you want to establish with your child for setting up accounts and the privacy settings you expect your child to use? What are your expectations and how will you monitor and mediate your child’s online activities? Not sure where to start? Read through Common Sense Media's Parents Need to Know advice pages, media agreements, and device contracts.
Enjoy Screens. Not too much. Mostly Together.
Parents should help kids balance screen time. But parents also play a role in sharing the joy of screens with their kids. Parents can model the use of technology for creation, discovery, and connection.
Help your child monitor and manage their screen time.
It’s easy to spend hours on a device, especially when it's new. Use these guidelines and strategies to help your children learn how to monitor and manage their screen time so they will have the ability to find balance when you’re not around. In the end, remember you are the parent and you make the rules.
Discuss privacy settings and accounts.
Teach your child to protect their personal information and model the use of privacy settings. Discuss why these settings are important and teach them how to make privacy setting choices for every app and service they use. Privacy and Security Information. Privacy Matters Report
Give your child action steps.
Discuss potential situations that may arise before they happen and give your child action steps. Do they know what they can do if cyberbullied, harassed, or if someone sends them something they don’t want to see? Every difficult situation is an opportunity to help prepare them for life beyond your home. These short parent advice videos, which can be filtered by topic and age, can help you identify action steps you can share with your child.
Teach your child to assess risks and make good choices.
Online communication is public and permanent. Talk with your children regularly and remind them that what they do online can impact future opportunities. Their online reputation can also affect their relationships in the face to face world.
