Keeping your child safe online during times of lockdown
Abusers of children are really tuned in to when, where and how they can access children. They know children in general may be vulnerable at present and that they may have more screen time than usual right now. Abusers will manipulate all of this to their advantage.
In countries all over the world, including South Africa, there have been warnings that online abuse of children would increase during periods of lockdown – and unfortunately, this has proven to be the case.
As some parents try to work from home AND supervise their kids at the same time (good luck to us), it is hard to keep tabs on what children are up to online. This is a really good time to think about your family’s online practices. Have you ever sat down together and made a plan on how, when and where members of the family use social media? Now would be a really good time.
Childnet.com has a really great set of templates for setting up a family agreement. You can access them here. You could even consider drafting a specific agreement for this period of time, to be reviewed as things change and return to normal.
Abusers of children are really tuned in to when, where and how they can access children. They know children in general may be vulnerable at present and that they may have more screen time than usual right now. Abusers will manipulate all of this to their advantage.
Yes, online abuse is a real thing. Initial research has shown that online abuse has an equal if not greater detrimental impact compared to in-person abuse. Online abuse is any type of abuse that happens on the internet. It can happen on any device connected to the internet including cell phones, tablets and personal computers. It can also happen anywhere online including via online gaming, text messages, social media, and emails. (nspcc.org.uk). Online abuse includes sexting and cyberbullying.
This South African resource, #wellconnected, by Christy Herselman, is an excellent way of broaching the topic of online safety with your children. You can find out more (and buy the book post-lockdown), on their website. This book is great for 9 – 12-year-olds (although could be used with mature 7 and 8-year-olds)
For adolescents, I would highly recommend Emma Sadleir and Lizzie Harrison’s “Selfies, Sexts and Smartphones.” This is really easy and informative to read and written in an extremely relevant style. You can find it at The Digital Law Company website. Again, this is a South African resource which just means it refers to our particular context and the particular laws that we live under (don’t worry, they make the law sound really interesting! Really!)
In the absence of resources, you as the parent are still your child’s greatest resource! My personal recommendation during this time would be to encourage as much ‘offline’ activity as possible and to spend as much time face to face with your children as you’re able to (until needing to engage in those much-needed self-care practices!). Remember that online life is still real life and needs to be guarded just as closely, if not more so!
