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Aged 5 - 7
Technology is part of your child’s life before they start primary school. They’re probably using the computer, the internet and interactive TV for fun – watching programmes on the CBeebies TV channel and website or taking part in the Club Penguin chat rooms…but they still need adult guidance and supervision.
Websites like CBeebies and Club Penguin, which are aimed at younger children, have strict safety and privacy rules to help protect your kids when they’re online. But we also know that some 5-7 year olds have their own mobile (or know how to use their parents’ mobile), watch videos on sites like YouTube and are influenced by what their older siblings do, so you can’t assume that they’re only accessing age-appropriate content and that they’re not already taking risks online.
“[Between 5 and 11 years old] is the time when children begin exploring websites beyond the boundaries originally set for them by their parents and also when they start playing a wider range of video games” - (Source: The Byron Review, March 2008)
According to Web Aware, 5-7 year olds might take what they read at face value and might be frightened by things they see online. It’s therefore crucial that you guide them through their digital world and understand how to deal with things like cyberbullying and security issues, even at this young age.
You’ll find lots of information on this website to help you stay one step ahead. Get to grips with the technology they’re using and learn how you can get more involved.
Here’s a quick checklist to get you started with your 5-7 year olds but don’t forget to read all the other interesting articles on this website – it’s good to be prepared for new things as they get older.
Checklist
- Set up Parental Controls on the computer your child uses – but remember, they might not be 100% accurate and they aren’t a replacement for parental supervision
- Set up Safe Search on your search engine so they can only access age-appropriate content when they’re searching the Web
- Keep an eye on what their older brother or sister is teaching them about technology and what devices they might have access to
- If you (or an older sibling) give your child a mobile or laptop to play on, make sure they can’t access inappropriate content on it
- Start teaching them to keep their personal information to themselves
- Set the ground rules now so that they become routine – just like you do for things like road safety – and encourage them early on to use technologies in a responsible way
- Stay in control and don’t be pressurised into letting your child use technology, such as a mobile or games console, if you don’t think they’re mature enough
- Find out how they’re using technology when they’re not at home with you. What rules do their friends’ parents set? What devices are they using at school?
- Regularly encourage them to come to you if they feel scared or unhappy about anything that happens when they’re using technology and don’t threaten to take their internet, mobile or other device away from them as it might deter them from talking to you
How old are your kids?
What you need to know to get started
- 5-7 years old
Technology is part of your child's life before they start primary school. They're probably using the computer, the internet and interactive TV for fun - watching programmes on the CBeebies channel and website or taking part in the Club Penguin chat rooms...but they still need adult guidance and supervision.
- 8-11 years old
If you have 8-11 year old children, your house is probably full of technology - PlayStation, Nintendo, iPod...the list goes on. In fact, research shows that 8-11 year olds in the UK have an average of four media devices in their bedroom.
This is a crucial age for young people to embrace new technologies and develop their ICT skills both at home and at school...and it's a crucial time for you to take control when they start exploring the digital world as well as the real world.
- 12-14 years old
They're at secondary school and growing up fast. It's a time of change and their digital world might seem as important as the real world to them. They might spend their evenings on Bebo, Facebook or MySpace ; watching videos on YouTube and uploading their own for others to watch; or doing research for their homework.
You want to encourage their technology and social skills, of course, so it's useful to understand what they're doing with technology and to get involved with it.
- 15+ years old
Once your children are teenagers, it might be tempting to think that they're tech-savvy and dealing with everything the virtual world can throw at them. You probably watch in awe as they switch from chatting with friends on Facebook to updating their Twitter profile; playing against someone on the other side of the world on their games console to downloading music on their mobile.
It's all great fun but, as they get older, the things you need to help them to cope with in their digital world are ever more challenging. Far from leaving them to it, you really need to keep communicating with them.
How much do you know?
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