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Essentials

If you’ve only got a few minutes to spare, take a look at this Essentials guide. It gives you six key action points to help you and your children stay in control of their digital world.

But, don’t forget, there’s no shortcut to getting to grips and getting involved when it comes to your child’s use of technology.

Read as much of this website as you can. We’ve written everything as articles so that you can dip in and out whenever you have time or when you need to look something up.

Even if you don’t recognise an article as being relevant to your family, it’s worth reading it – you never know when you might need the information and advice it contains.

Get to grips with technology

  • Have a go at some of the technology your kids are using – if you haven’t already, download some music onto your computer, play a game on their Wii and set up your own profile on Facebook, for example
  • Read our articles about different technologies – from Bluetooth to texting to video – to help you stay ahead of the game
  • Talk to friends and family about how they use technology and the kind of boundaries they set for their own children

Get involved and stay in control

  • Put some time aside to sit down with your kids at the computer, with their mobile, MP3 player or games console, and ask them to show you what their digital world is all about – they might even enjoy teaching you new things
  • Set some boundaries and make the most of built-in tools like Parental Controls and privacy features based on your child’s age and maturity. Think about how you guide your family in the real world – you wouldn’t let your kids go out at night and talk to strangers so why let them do it in the digital world?
  • Keep communicating – show them you understand how important their digital world is and reassure them that they can come to you about anything that is worrying them when it comes to technology and things they come across on the internet and other devices

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.

    Read more

  • 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.

    Read more

  • 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.

    Read more

  • 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.

    Read more

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