It’s important to look after your child’s well-being when it comes to them playing online. While there’s so much you can teach them about the dangers in real life, not every parent truly knows the dangers that exist online.
Not only that, but it’s easy enough to become addicted to using technology and the internet in general. That means that your child could be easily influenced to spend a lot of time online due to it being all that they see as they’re growing up.
With that being said, here are some helpful tips to keep your little ones safe when playing online.
Supervise them where appropriate
For younger kids, it’s important to watch what they’re doing at all times. Even providing them with education on how to use the internet, up until a certain age, you want to make sure that they’re within your eyeline as much as possible.
That means no phones or electronic devices should be left with them in their room. Even though that might be frustrating to some at specific ages when they’re approaching their teenage years, supervision is important.
With supervision, you can keep an eye on your little ones to ensure they’re navigating the site safely, whether they’re just playing a game of drifting or chatting with their friends and family online.
Set screen time limits
Screen limits are important to set when it comes to keeping your little ones online. While it can be fun to play on the internet, it’s something that should be limited in part when they’re young.
A balance should be set so that they’re getting enough exposure to other things whether that’s playing outside or reading a book, for example.
Setting screen limits will ensure that their time spent online is limited to what is a healthy amount. After all, even we adults need to be wary of how much time we spend in front of a screen.
Use internet safety features to block certain sites
Thankfully, there are a lot of processes that you can put in place to help keep your little ones protected from the dangers online. One of those is through your own internet provider. A lot of internet providers allow you to put in limits on what they can access.
Certain sites might not be something you want your little one to stumble upon. This can easily happen if words specifically are entered into the search engine or they click on a seemingly innocent advertisement.
Using internet safety features that you can set and adjust accordingly is definitely worth doing. Consider what limitations you want to put in place to keep your little ones from going on anything they shouldn’t be at that age.
Be aware of any change in mood
A change in mood is normal for kids who are going through the teenage years due to their hormones being all over the place.
However, a sign of a problem can often be down to a change in mood that’s frankly unusual for your child to behave.
If this is a mood that’s on occasion, then it might not be an issue. However, if it becomes worrying or you have a gut feeling that something is wrong, it’s important to make sure that you check in and see what might be going on that you don’t know about.
Stress the dangers of exchanging information or meeting people online
As adults, we understand the dangers of exchanging information online or even meeting up with people we’ve met through social media or the internet.
However, young children aren’t aware of these dangers, which is why these dangers need to be stressed when they’re on the internet for the first time. Make sure they know that not everyone out there has their best interests at heart.
Therefore, it’s always useful to let them know what dangers are out there so that they don’t make any mistakes they regret or that put them in danger.
Be wary of in-app purchases
In-app purchases are something to be wary of, and as a parent, it can certainly be problematic if they end up sneaking away with your credit card to purchase something in a game. Make sure they know that this shouldn’t happen unless you agree to it and always check what the costs are before handing over your bank or card details.
Keeping your little ones safe is important so use these tips to make sure they get enjoyment out of playing on from now on.