Checklist: Supporting 0 to 5-year-olds online

EXPLORE TOGETHER

Talk to your child about what the internet is and explore it together to show them all the fun and educational things that they can do on it.

PUT YOURSELF IN CONTROL

Install parental controls on your home broadband. Most internet-enabled devices also allow you to set parental controls.

USE PASSWORDS

Keep all internet-enabled devices out of reach and set passwords on them without sharing them. Then you’ll know when and where your child accesses the internet. You can also make sure they’re not making additional purchases in games or apps.

SEARCH SAFELY

Use safe search engines such as Swiggle or Kidzsearch. Save time by adding these to your Favourites. Safe search settings can also be activated on Google and other search engines, as well as Youtube.

BE INVOLVED

Encourage them to use devices in a communal area like the lounge or kitchen so that you can keep an eye on how they’re using the internet and share in their enjoyment.

MANAGE ACCESS

Set your home page to a child-friendly site like Cbeebies and create a user account for your child on a family computer or device, just allowing access to your chosen sites.

HELP THEM LEARN THROUGH GAMES

Choose safe, fun and educational online games to play with your child and that way, you’ll be confident about them exploring. You can find good free of charge examples from Cbeebies and companies like Disney Junior, Nick Jr and Fisher Price.

SET BOUNDARIES

It’s never too early to start setting boundaries in life. The same goes for the internet. Set rules about how long your child can spend online.