The New Stranger Danger

It is a heart sinking reality that as parents we carry the responsibility of needing to protect our children from many dangers in this world. Right from birth we face multiple situations from which we try to keep them safe; from sleep safety, electrical safety, furniture safety, safety around play equipment, safety from burns and glass, safety around poisons and medicines, then there is swim safety and road safety. The list goes on…

But, there is one thing I want to highlight with you today. The New Stranger Danger.

Of course, we all know stranger danger revolves around ensuring our kids know not to hop in a car with a stranger. Recently, hubby and I talked through a scenario in the car with our boys around if a person offered them lollies… it did not feel like a nice conversation to have on our lovely Saturday outing but it definitely felt good afterwards to have it discussed with them as we do every now and again.

Where I live, around Halloween time, we also annually commemorate “Day For Daniel” which highlights the importance of regularly having these conversations around strangers so we don’t get complacent. I am not saying to discuss stranger danger and scare your child every week but it is our responsibility to ensure our children have that knowledge trigger in their brain if ever they come across a situation with a stranger. Unfortunately, they need to know that in this world, not everyone is kind and trustworthy. It is a sad reality.

So, this brings me to clarify what I mean by “New Stranger Danger”… I ask you this question… Are you prepared and feel equipped to talk to your kids about Cyber Safety?

I am no expert here. As a parent in this generation of digital navigation I am learning as I go. What I do realise though is how important it is to arm myself with the tools necessary to ensure both my own safety and that of my childrens’ is not compromised.

I encourage you to do the same as of today. As the recent online hacking situation in Australia for Optus and Medibank Private customers has shown us, our personal information is out there and can and will be used against us. Many of us already receive scam emails, text messages and phone calls daily and this is all something that generations before us have not had to endure. There are a couple of recommendations I will share with you if you feel you need more information when it comes to protecting your children online and arming yourself with the tools to then teach your children about keeping themselves safe online. Please note, these are purely my recommendations, there is no sponsorship deals here.

1) Safe On Social is an organisation that I follow on Facebook. They do talks to businesses, sporting groups, schools (staff and students) as well as help parents like us to understand how to be safe online. They have over 70,000 followers and I hear that their presentations are eye opening and super informative. I find their Facebook posts relevant and timely and helps me realise that there is a lot I don’t know yet when it comes to online predators and cyber bullying.

2) www.safety.gov.au is a government website that offers a huge amount of information for Australians, the section for parents and carers delves into many topics to help us keep our kids safe online. From cyberbullying, to gaming, to online grooming, there is plenty to learn from this site.

3) www.safewise.com is an American based site that provides useful tips around home security, internet security, and other home and family safety topics. This site has a great section with articles about children’s online safety as well as the best and worst apps to look out for with kids.

These days most schools provide Cyber Safety information to students and this is all age-appropriate. When you are discussing being online with your children my biggest tip is to consider what they need to know now at this age and then review and expand your conversations as they get older and are using more apps and websites.

Here is a little of what I do to keep my kids safe online… when my children are on their devices, I regularly check what apps they are on. I read reviews on apps before I download them on their iPads and I say “no” if they ask for an app that I have read about and do not approve of. If they want to watch videos on You Tube they know that if something else pops up they must show me immediately. They know that if they are messaging friends, that I have the right to check and read the content at any time to ensure they are being kind and safe and that their friends are not saying or sending anything inappropriate too.

I hope that you can take away from this blog some useful tips on how to keep up with what your child is doing on devices and ensure their protection and safety. There are many more ways to protect your children online but the ones I have shared today might just give you a starting point. So, just like you use the child lock on the car door to protect your child when in the car, arm yourself with the knowledge and tools to protect your child when online. It is our current reality in this digital world that this has become a new parental responsibility.