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You don’t need to become a technology expert. You need to have one conversation tonight.
After hearing about everything that can happen online, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. That’s completely normal. But you don’t need to do everything at once.
Here are three things you can do tonight, in 10 minutes. Choose the age group that fits best:
👶 Under 10
1. One conversation: Sit down with your child and say: “Can you show me what you like to do online?” Be genuinely interested. Don’t judge. Just listen and ask questions.
2. One setting: Open the app or game your child uses most. Go to settings → privacy. Check that the account is set to private and that strangers cannot send messages.
3. One thing to understand: Most games children use have a social component. Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite are not just games — they are platforms where children can potentially talk to strangers. That doesn’t mean it’s always dangerous, but it does mean it’s worth knowing what’s going on.
🧒 10–13
1. One conversation: Ask: “Which apps are popular at school right now? What’s cool about them?” And then: “If something weird happened online — who would you talk to about it?”
2. One setting: Go through the privacy settings on your child’s phone together — not in secret, but as a shared activity. Show them what the settings mean. Let them help decide.
3. One thing to understand: At this age, children start giving shorter answers to direct questions. That doesn’t mean they’re hiding something — it’s normal. Indirect questions work better than direct interrogation.
🧑🎓 13–17
1. One conversation: Say: “I read that [platform] changed their privacy policy. What do you think about that?” Treat them as thinking people with opinions. They are.
2. One setting: Talk about what’s visible to others on their profiles. Don’t demand access — suggest a review together. “Let’s have a look together — I’m curious what the defaults are.”
3. One thing to understand: Teenagers know more about technology than most parents. That’s a strength, not a problem. But they lack the life experience that helps them recognise manipulation. Your role is not to control — it’s to give them that life experience.
The most important thing you can do tonight: Let your child know that they will never get in trouble for telling you about something that happened online. Never. If taking the phone is the consequence of speaking up, they learn to never speak up again.
Ready for more? Go to Platforms to understand what your children actually use, or to Talk to your kids for conversation advice tailored to different age groups.