Parent Screen Smart Tour from the eSafety Website

The website https://esafety.gov.au for the Office of the eSafety Commissioner is a recommended read for all parents, covering everything from keeping up to date with apps, learning more about some of the issues that children can face online to channels to report cyberbullying. One of the latest interactive tools that has been developed on the website, is the Screen Smart Parent Tour.

The Screen Smart Parent Tour is designed for parents of 10 to 14 year olds in particular. It’s an age where your child may be becoming more involved online and a time when the more proactive we can be with having conversations around online use, the better. We have ongoing eSmart sessions at school – this week, it was the turn of Year 7 students. We encourage parents to also be actively talking about aspects at home - be it staying safe, balancing online time, communicating respectfully, or, as children move into their teens, social media use.

The Tour helps parents to identify areas that they aren’t as comfortable or confident with discussing with their children and then read up on these areas, with succinct advice and practical tips. Essentially, a parent survey, it allows you also to see some trends and give some insight into what other parents think about these issues.

Overall, the aim is to remind parents of the types of conversations they should be having with their children, and provide practical tips and advice. The tour covers six important online areas and doesn’t take long to complete. At the end there are a list of useful resources within the iParent section of the website for further reading.

On the eSafety website, you’ll find a wealth of useful information about different online environments, including social networking sites and online games, including information about age restrictions, how to report and privacy controls. Taking some time to explore the website is recommended and it is a go-to in this space with a real commitment from the government to constantly updating the information within.