Protect Your Kids

COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic in March of 2020. The virus is having both short-term and far-reaching implications for our families, friends and colleagues. It also has an impact on our work, and will affect the achievement of our shared vision of a world without violence against children. As the virus continues to spread across the world, we are all facing multiple new stresses, including physical and psychological health risks, school and business closures, family confinement, isolation and economic vulnerability. Through all of that, children are particularly vulnerable.

Here are some TIPS that can help you keep your children safe during their time online.

Agree as a family on boundaries and expectations: Additional time online does not mean unregulated time online. Discuss and agree on much time your children spend online, for how long they can play games, how long they can spend chatting, and how long they need to spend doing school or homework.
Speak to your child about online safety: Now is an important opportunity to engage and communicate with your child about what they are doing online, safe and age appropriate platforms, websites and social media and the steps they take to stay safe online. You can find some useful examples of how to do this here, as well as here. Remember, when speaking to your child about their time online, always be positive and be open.
Having said that, become familiar with online safety tools. These include the Safe Search option that most browsers and common search engines have (usually under the ‘Settings’ menu) and parental controls on devices, especially for younger children - useful tools for keeping your children safe on Facebook, as well as ideas for talking to your children about being good citizens online and building their skills. Keeping your child’s data and privacy safe in different web browsers can be found here; and on social media accounts your children may use, such as Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat and others, are available here.

The internet gives criminals and predators an easy way to reach young people. The FBI most often sees crimes against children begin when an adult:

Forges a relationship with a young victim online and then later arranges to meet and abuse the child; or
Coerces a child into producing sexually explicit images or videos through manipulation, gifts, or threats—a crime called sextortion.

The most important advice for parents is to have open and ongoing conversations about safe and appropriate online behavior. Other advice to consider:

Educate yourself about the websites, software, games, and apps that your child uses.
Check their social media and gaming profiles and posts. Have conversations about what is appropriate to say or share.
Explain to your kids that once images or comments are posted online they can be shared with anyone and never truly disappear.
Make sure your kids use privacy settings to restrict access to their online profiles.
Tell your children to be extremely wary when communicating with anyone online who they do not know in real life.
Encourage kids to choose appropriate screen names and to create strong passwords.
Make it a rule with your kids that they can't arrange to meet up with someone they met online without your knowledge and supervision.
Stress to your children that making any kind of threat online—even if they think it's a joke—is a crime.
Report any inappropriate contact between an adult and your child to law enforcement immediately. Notify the site they were using, too.

Posted by: 0197409035 Natsibulina Valeriia for the final project of the course Global Governance and International Organizations