Day For Daniel
Day for Daniel is Australia’s largest national child safety education and awareness day. We reached out to our local police education unit to get relevant advice for High school aged students in our community - we sat down with Senior Constable Steven Stopford to discuss this advice.
Top 5 Tips for parents
Have open conversations, often
The most important tip we can give you is to start talking to your child regularly about their online activities and interactions.
Supervision is essential
This means knowing what your child is doing online, who they are interacting with and what platforms, apps or games they are using.
Be approachable if your child needs help
Coming forward isn’t always easy and your child may feel reluctant to tell you about online issues if they believe they will be punished or have their devices taken away. This also makes children more secretive about device use and at greater risk of exploitation.
Check privacy settings
We recommended that you research and understand app settings, including privacy settings. This could include turning off location settings, setting profiles to private, or turning off chat functions.
Know how to report
If something goes wrong online, it is critical your child is supported. You need to know how to take action and report.
If you think a child is in immediate danger call Triple Zero (000) or your local police (131 444).
If you prefer to report anonymously, you can visit Crime Stoppers or call their toll free number 1800 333 000.
Online child sexual exploitation can be reported to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation http://www.accce.gov.au/report.
Advice for parents and carers for 13+
Have oversight of your child’s online activities
Have open and non-judgemental conversations about online challenges, such as privacy, image sharing and online interactions
Be approachable and encourage your child to always come to you for help.
Your level of supervision or oversight may vary across this age group, however you should always stay in touch with what your child’s doing online.
Being engaged in your child’s online activities and knowing the types of things are doing online can help you to prevent and manage challenges.
You may not always be able to supervise your child all the time. This might be the case if your child is using a portable device or using their device in different environments, where supervision may be limited.
Older children may also want to use their device independently and want more privacy around their relationships and online interactions.
Encourage your child to recognise safe or unsafe situations and inappropriate contact. This can empower them to make informed decisions, including when they’re in unsupervised environments.
Supervision is not only critical to prevent an incident occurring, but can also be a way for you to quickly take action if something goes wrong.
Further Resources
To check out other Resources for Keeping your children Safe, please see online resources for varying age groups on the Day for Daniel website:
Keeping Kids Safe Resources | The Daniel Morcombe Foundation