Do you know what your children are doing online?
The Safer Internet Day is being organised by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre. To highlight the dangers to parents and carers, CEOP are broadcasting a new film which aims to take parents on a journey back to the 1950s and back to the challenges of parenting in a modern age.
The film shows that while the risks to children may be different to those of the 1950s, parenting skills for keeping children safe remain the same.
DI Kay Wallace from West Midlands Police Child Online Safety Team said: “We are committed to tackling offenders who use the internet as a vehicle to offend against children, be it grooming for sexual activity, making,possessing or distributing indecent images of children or the internet andsocial networking sites being used as a means to bully and intimidate others.
“The most important question that parents and carers can ask their children is do you really know who they are communicating with? We would also tell youngsters not to be lulled into a false sense of security, that by posting an image of yourself on the internet, it will stay with the intended recipient. You lose control as soon as you post information and images of yourself and they are there for the world to see.”
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre – the UK’s national centre for child protection – is encouraging parents to tune in online to the show online. The Parents’ and Carers’ Guide to the Internet takes an entertaining and light-hearted look at what it’s like to bring up children in the online age featuring practical tips, insights into what your child is up to online and a few surprises along the way.
Visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents to view.