A WORD ABOUT PHONES…

AGE 13, or going to secondary school, were the key markers for my own children’s receipt of a phone. As with almost all children now, those phones were smartphones and so we were giving them access to a whole new world of social media and the internet.

That is a lot of responsibility for a child to have, and so, early in their phone ownership it is crucial that we take interest and remain involved in how they use their phones. We have rules, limits and expectations about lots of areas of their lives and their phone use should be no different. My top tips for establishing some ground rules with your child about phone and social media use are as follows:

Agree what, if any, monitoring of the phone you will do, in advance of the arrival of the phone

Agree what times of the day are phone-full, and phone-free

Learn as much as you can about the social media apps you let your child use

Keep phones out of the bedroom at all times Talk regularly and often about your expectations of their online behaviour with regard to their conduct in social media chats with friends. A good rule of thumb for them night be “If you wouldn’t say it direct to their face, then don’t say it in a text or message”.

Discuss other aspects of online safety and help them grow an awareness of their privacy, where their data may be going, and the permanency of all of their online interactions.

Talk about pornography and your values, in the context of your understanding of sex and relationships. Children may rely on porn for sex education unless they have alternative ways to find out what they need to know.