Parents need to be internet aware to ensure their childrens’ safety
AN Enniscorthy school teacher has highlighted to this newspaper the importance of parents and guardians having access to passwords belonging to their children in respect of accessing what they view online on digital devices.
Gearóid McCauley, who is a teacher and IT coordinator in St Senan’s Primary School, said it’s very important for parents to talk to their children about online safety.
‘Parent should sit down with their children, and their digital device, and show them how to be safe online,’ said Mr McCauley.
‘ This would include such things as age appropriate apps,’ he added.
The age restrictions on well-known apps and social media sites such as Snapchat and Facebook are 13 and 16, respectively, yet the reality is that children younger than that are accessing both platforms and that’s not a good thing.
‘Parents should be monitoring online usage and have all the log in passwords so they can go in and see what their children are viewing and who they’re talking to,’ said Mr McCauley.
He pointed out that parents or guardians wouldn’t allow their children to talk to strangers on the street and the same approach should be taken with regard to who they interact with online.
It’s also very important that children feel they can talk to their parents about issues they have with regard to their online activity.
‘In school if something comes up on screen you deal with it straight away but it’s important that the children know they are not getting in trouble,’ said Mr McCauley.
‘Children should be comfortable giving their parents their tablet or device,’ he added.
He also said it’s important to cap the amount of screen-time that children spend online.
However, he highlighted that every family is different but emphasised the need for parents to discuss the topic of online access and screen time with their children.
‘Research has been done in relation to the link between excessive screen time and a rise in anxiety,’ said Mr McCauley.
‘When children are online it’s engaging and interactive but very different from the real world and children need to have a balanced lifestyle.’
Children need to develop social skills and that’s something that can be adversely affected if they are spending too much time online and not enough time conversing face-to-face with people in the real world.
Highlighting national policy changes aimed at countering cyber-bullying Mr McCauley said there have been incidents where children have been bullied online yet their parents still refused to limit their online access.
He said everyone who interacts with children has a duty of care towards ensuring they are protected from inappropriate online material and cyber-bullying and highlighted that while they are in school teachers can control what children have access to but at home parents need to adopt a hands-on approach to monitoring what children are viewing.
‘As teachers we feel it is the role of the school to talk about online safety but it’s important for parents to teach it at home,’ said Mr McCauley.
He said children should not have a digital device in their bedroom because even aside from them being online when they shouldn’t be they will invariably respond to any ‘ bings’ from their device which will in turn interrupt their sleeping patterns.
Parents also need to review what’s been accessed on their children’s device.
‘You should go through it with your child and it doesn’t always have to be negative it can be a positive process as well.’
Mr McCauley suggested parents look at online resources such as webwise.ie and scoilnet.ie to find out more about what they can do to ensure their children are safe while online.
He emphasised the importance of making children know parents and guardians are on their side: ‘Make sure it’s in no accusatory but is instead supportive.’
‘It’s good for children to have technology skills but we need to ask ourselves should they access something just because they can.’
PARENTS SHOULD BE MONITORING ONLINE USAGE AND HAVE ALL THE LOG IN PASSWORDS SO THEY CAN GO IN AND SEE WHAT THEIR CHILDREN ARE VIEWING AND WHO THEY’RE TALKING TO