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Being Safe Online: Reviewing NOS's Online Safety Course

The other day I was invited by my children's school to take an Online Safety Course for Parents & Carers. The course, created by the National Online Safety (NOS), is made up of 23, three-six minute, videos. Each video focuses on a different area of online safety such as 'online bullying', 'pornography' and 'screen addition'. The course will likely take you somewhere between two-three hours depending on your attention span and how many cups of tea you require to sit through all the videos.

Overall I found the course extremely useful with the vast majority of videos able to clearly distill the challenges of being online into steps that a parent or carer might wish to take to address them. I was particularly impressed with the non-judgemental tone of each video and each of the presenters will put you, the viewer, at ease.

As a parent, and educator who works with school-age children, I found that many of the videos offered a useful reminder that children, who we may consider much more 'internet savvy' then ourselves, are still very much newbies in the online world.

Here are some of my key takeaways from the course:
  1. Talk often to your children about the internet. As with anything important yet complicated, one must have frequent and open talks with their children. The tone should always be encouraging and we should commend are children for opening up to us about their online habits and usage. You, the parent or carer, will also benefit from these conversations as there is probably much your child already knows about the online-world that you do not. Think of it as a two-way education!
  2. Never scold a child for telling you that they have viewed inappropriate content online or that they have made a mistake whilst using the internet. Rather, praise them for having had the bravery to confide in you. Use their disclosure as a springboard to a more meaningful conversation about online safety.
  3. Online safety is not intuitive. Whilst it may seem intuitively obvious to us as to which online sources can and cannot be trusted, it may not be that obvious to a child. Spend time discussing how they can identify trust worthy sources of information and how to spot if a social media profile is legitimate.
  4. Balancing respect for your child's privacy versus keeping them safe online is tricky! Likewise, helping your child to understand that, whilst the online-world offers many amazing benefits, it can also be a place in which people can be taken advantage.
  5. Talk to someone! If you are unsure about an area of the online-world, or how to talk to your child about their internet usage, reach out to others. This can include other parents, educators, your school's leadership, NOS or the NSPCC.

Finally, it is important to try and lead by example. If you want your children to be able to talk openly about the internet it helps if they can see that you are able (or at least willing) to do the same.
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