Teaching Your Child To Use Social Media Responsibly

Social media can be a great place for your child to grow as a person, but it’s also a place filled with potential risks. So long as your child knows how to keep themselves safe online they can find social media a good place to explore the latest trends.

To help them with their understanding of social media, here are some top tips that this prep school in Surrey has shared with us.

Show them the risks to social media trends

A lot of trends found online can cause a lot of harm to young children. There are a lot of changes and trends that have been known to “go viral” which many young kids want to try out. In some cases they bring a positive, but they are also known for causing risks to others. Show your child examples of these and why they could be harmful for your child to mimic.

Remind them of how to communicate to others online

Your child should only be talking to people they know, like friends and family. This also means that your child needs to be respectful and kind when talking to others online. When talking online a lot of context is taken away and children are much more likely to take things to heart. That, and you don’t want a child that is rude to others online – curb out the bad behaviour and remind them of any consequences they may face as a result.

Use privacy settings

Until your child is of the right age they shouldn’t be seeing any unkind or harmful images and messages. Having privacy settings on will ensure they don’t see any inappropriate content; all social media outlets now have markers that indicate if the content is appropriate for under 18s. Your child can also keep their own profiles private so it’s away from harmful content and only open to those in their chosen circle.

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