Category: Online Safety for Kids

Kids love using the internet. Why shouldn’t they if they see adults browsing all the time? Nowadays, most of the kids are exposed to it from an early age.  You’ll hardly find a child without a smartphone, tablet, or gaming console. These gadgets provide endless entertainment, as well as teach them many cool and educational things.

For example, toddlers love watching Cocomelon videos on YouTube, and even second graders are already chatting with their peers through Messenger and Discord.

While giving your child a tablet or a smartphone might keep them occupied for several hours, it also exposes them to cybersecurity risks. Every device connected to the internet is vulnerable to these risks. As a result, Australian parents and teachers must ensure that kids know how to stay safe online.

The Dangers Children May Encounter Online

The internet is a double-edged sword. It’s fun and educational, but it’s also addictive, and gives hackers ammo to destroy lives. Children worldwide can experience multiple negative effects of the online world.

Cyberbullying

Your child uploads a post on Instagram, and the comments it receives are awful. Peer bullying is a real problem on many gaming forums and social media sites where kids spend a lot of time. Girls and boys can suffer a lot from cyberbullying on an emotional level.

Inappropriate Content

The internet is filled with inappropriate material, and accessing it is not difficult. Your child might get curious and easily stumble upon sexual or violent content, especially if their friends are talking about it. Getting used to explicit topics from an early age can negatively affect their emotional state.

Online Predators

There are a lot of predators lurking on the internet. They may use online platforms to contact children through chat rooms, social media, or gaming platforms. These predators often disguise themselves to build trust and take advantage of children.

Phishing Scams and Malware

Phishing scams are dangerous, and if they can trick adults, they can certainly trick children. If kids click on sketchy links or pop-ups, they might get malware or share private data without meaning to. These acts may cause identity theft, data breaches, or financial scams.

Oversharing Personal Information

Many kids don’t know how dangerous it is to share personal information online, like their name, where they live, school, or photos. This information can be used by hackers or predators to exploit them.

How to Teach Children About Online Safety

If you have small children, they might not care about the concept of online safety because they don’t understand it themselves. Teenagers, on the other hand, can sit down and listen to you only if the lecture doesn’t last an hour. Nevertheless, you should make it a habit to talk to them about this topic as often as you can. Here’s what you can do:

Start Early

Kids will get better at staying safe online if you start telling them about it early on. A great idea is to start simple. Explain the idea of cyber safety in easy terms, like you talk about the real world dangers. Start with simple things like don’t talk to strangers and don’t give out personal information.

Set Parental Controls

Gadgets can be educational, but parents and teachers should monitor children’s online activities. Parental controls can limit screen time, block inappropriate material, and stop kids from checking certain websites.

Explain the Importance of Strong Passwords

Teach children to create strong passwords and not share them with anyone, even their peers. For example, suggest your child to create a password based on their favourite superhero and a random symbol on the keyboard. That way, they can remember it more easily. Choose the best password manager to help store and generate secure passwords, ensuring your child’s online accounts are well-protected.

Introduce the Concept of a VPN

As your kids get older, they’ll start using their phones for browsing, streaming, and gaming. So, it’s the perfect time to show them why using a virtual private network (VPN) is important. For instance, with a VPN for a phone your child will have an encrypted internet connection, and be able to browse the internet safer. Bad actors will have a hard time getting to them with this kind of protection.

Tell Them About Phishing Attempts

Tell your kids repeatedly that they should avoid checking emails from people or companies they don’t know. You should teach them how to determine sketchy links and distinguish fake websites from real ones. Warn them that they should never give out personal information to strangers.

Encourage Open Communication

Ensure your kids are comfortable talking to you about their online activities. If they find something scary or disturbing online, they should be able to tell you right away. Building trust with your kids is important because this way, they’ll be open about anything that seems suspicious online.

Diamond art kits offer a unique opportunity to create stunning, personalized paintings that make for thoughtful and memorable gifts. Whether you choose to gift a completed painting or share the experience of creating one, diamond art kits provide a meaningful and creative way to show someone you care.

To make this experience even more special, you can opt for the best custom diamond painting. This option allows you to transform one of your cherished photos into a dazzling piece of art. This art is an opportunity to learn new skills, connect emotionally with your chosen image, and create something truly personal. The emotional value and sense of accomplishment make custom diamond paintings a standout gift, offering benefits that go beyond the ordinary.

We enjoyed delving into the many reasons why custom diamond paintings are the perfect personalized gift.  And now, we’re existing to show you how they bring joy to both the giver and receiver.

What Are Custom Diamond Paintings?

Diamond paintings are a type of art you can create with a canvas and ‘diamonds’. These diamonds are actually drills of resin rhinestones of different colors. Using the instructions on the canvas, you will glue the diamonds down in the form of a mosaic.

Therefore, custom diamond paintings are a mosaic of a unique image you want. When you submit a picture to a diamond art company, they will print a canvas and send you a matching diamond art kit. Then, you will be able to make a mosaic of your photographs and give away the final art piece. Alternatively, you can give the art kit as a gift and let the recipient have fun putting it together.

The Best Qualities of Custom Diamond Paintings

When you want to give a unique gift, diamond paintings are an excellent option. To understand why it is such a good option, you only need to consider its qualities.

Diamond paintings have the following qualities:

1.    Creates a Long-lasting Memory

The first reason why you should give away custom diamond paintings is that they give a lasting memory. Since you can select any of your own pictures, such as vacation photographs, these paintings are meaningful. So, you and the person you are giving it to will be able to remember the memory depicted in the mosaic. Plus, the recipient will fondly remember the process of putting it together if you give this gift as a diamond art kit.

2.    Improves Manual and Discernible Skills

These paintings will allow you or the recipient to improve your manual and observant skills. In particular, children benefit from putting together these paintings. This is because this activity promotes hand-eye coordination. It give them an appreciation for art and also requires the child to practice recognizing shapes and reproducing them.

3.    Evokes Powerful Emotions

These paintings are striking in their beauty. So, when you give them away as a gift, the recipient may be touched by the artistic mosaic. They may also feel captivated and awaken a desire to create art of their own. For children in particular, the fun and bright colors can prompt them to be more creative.

4.    Reduces Stress

Another reason why you should consider these paintings as your first personalized gift option is that they reduce stress. Since you can paint with diamonds in a quiet and peaceful environment, it can be calming. Since it requires focus, it can help you enter a mindful state of mind that can be therapeutic. Moreover, the repetitive motion of placing the diamonds may let you decompress.

5.    Improves Focus

This personalized gift is perfect for those who need to improve their focus. Handling the small diamonds requires focus, so you will naturally start thinking only of this task. For children, this can lead to over 10 hours of dedicated, focused activity. Broken down into creative sessions, you may be able to focus your child on this activity for several days.

6.    Transforms Keepsakes into Art

These diamond paintings will transform your keepsake photographs into works of art. While you could turn the original image into a framed photograph, using it to create a diamond painting heightens its value. In fact, the recipient of this gift may even prefer it since it can be an interesting piece of art they can add to their home decor.

7.    Suits Various Occasions

Finally, custom diamond paintings are perfect for a variety of occasions. Whether you want to give a diamond painting gift for a birthday, religious holiday, or another occasion, its customization feature allows you to make it fit the occasion. For instance, if you want to celebrate the holiday, you can use a picture you took during that season.

Where to Get Custom Diamond Paintings

To find the best diamond art kits, you should visit Dreamer Designers. Their diamond art kits have a high-quality canvas, allowing you to create detailed paintings that will not crease. Moreover, their colorful diamonds are made of eco-friendly resin. Also, you can supplement the kit by adding more tools to make the painting process easier and faster.

Plus, they have an Uh-Oh insurance policy. So, if your child spills the diamonds, they will replace the diamonds at zero cost to you. You will simply need to take a picture of the mess and submit a claim. Within a day, the company will reach out to you to resolve the situation.

Conclusion

Custom diamond paintings are the best personalized gift you can offer someone, no matter the occasion. This gift is meaningful not only because of its uniqueness and personal nature but also because of its stunning appearance. These mosaics shine with bright colors which enchant both children and adults. In addition, these paintings act as keepsakes that offer you a chance to practice manual and cognitive skills, reduce stress, and increase focus.

To offer this spectacular gift, you should consider buying a custom kit from a highly-rated diamond kit producer such as Dreamer Designs. Their high-quality kits and customization features create the best diamond painting gifts.

Reddit is a highly regarded website in terms of social interaction. Often, when you ask Google a question, Reddit answers created by users come up in the results. This means Google considers this website to be valuable to users.  This is often not the case with other social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

That said, when it comes to video search, Reddit is not as popular because it wasn’t designed to be a video posting website.  Sure, you can embed videos in Reddit posts, but users tend to be more about posting information, asking questions, and answering those questions for others. On video searches you’ll see more from YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook.

Our safe search results, which is enhanced by Google, will automatically filter out any results provided by Redditt.  This is a blanketed precaution because Reddit is a site for older teens and adults.

Reddit Safety Concerns:  Is it Safe?

When it comes to the safety of Reddit, especially for kids, parents need to be aware of a myriad of dangers.  At it’s core, Reddit offers a platform for discussions on a wide variety of subjects, and as you may expect, not all content is appropriate for younger audiences. Nor should it be assumed that everything is AOK for older teens either.

Like all social media platforms, kids need to be at least 13 years of age to join.  Here are some key safety concerns and considerations for parents:

Unmoderated Content

Some subreddits (communities within Reddit) may contain explicit, violent, or inappropriate content. According to Reddit’s content policy, the site strives to remove and ban users who post such material that is against their guidelines.  Still, even that which is legal and within Reddit’s standards of acceptability may be harmful for kids.

Unfiltered Discussions

Unlike some platforms that control content for younger audiences, Reddit allows for open conversations on virtually any topic. That concept alone should make it obvious that Reddit may be one of the least safe websites for kids.   This is not to take anything away from the integrity of moderators, who are devoted to creating a safe environment for users to interact.

Direct Messaging

Reddit has a private messaging feature, which opens the door to sketchy messages from strangers.  These direct messages into the user inbox or chat requests can also be disabled.

Lack of Parental Controls

Reddit doesn’t have robust parental control features. There are privacy settings and content filters, such as NSFW (Not Safe For Work), but these can be turned off as easily as it’s turned on.

Reddit Privacy and Preference Settings

Here is a screenshot of Reddit’s privacy settings: Users can restrict followers, restrict various types of messages, prevent chat requests, and block accounts.

And here is a look at the preference settings:  Users can show or disallow mature content.  Mature images can be blurred. They can also limit what shows up in the user home feed.

Even a quick glance at these options it’s fairly obvious that Reddit is not ideal for kids.  Parents will need to decide how they feel about older teens being on the site.  As with all social media platforms, no one under 13 years of age can join.  That’s doesn’t mean kids under 13 don’t have accounts. Even so, if a user lies about their age when signing up for Reddit, they could potentially have access to mature 18+ content.  This is not the case with websites like Instagram and even TikTok who have stricter content guidelines and more scrutinising moderation.

What Parents Can Do

Enable Safe Browsing

As we’ve explored in the screenshots above, safe browsing settings via Reddit’s privacy and preference tabs do in fact exist, but they can be turned on and off instantly at any time.  Parents may want to only allow their 13+ kids to use Reddit on a shared account.  It would also be advisable to only allow access with supervision.

For parents who have already decided to ban the use of Reddit in their home, there is still the issue of Reddit coming up in Google search results. This is the case with any website related to an innocent search term.  With strict safe search settings, the Reddit website may be restricted at all times.  At the very least, bad content will be blocked.  However, once a child clicks a search results they will be taken to an external website, including Reddit.

Talk About Reddit

Regularly discuss with your child what they encounter online and ensure they understand online safety, including how to report abusive or inappropriate content. Reddit has a few family-friendly subreddits, such as r/explainlikeimfive (which gives simplified explanations of complex topics).  Still, monitoring should be a top priority at all times.

Ultimately, Reddit can be suitable for older teens who are responsible digital users. This means they adhere to maintaining strict privacy and preference settings, but younger teens more guidance and restrictions.

External Parental Controls

If your children are freely surfing the web without regular monitoring, the sky is the limit to what they may find.  Ultimately, implementing a 3rd party parental controls will restrict access to any website and can limit the use of any social media app.

The default settings for the typical parental control program will more the likely fully restrict the use of the Reddit app and block the website as well.  This is because it’s generally deemed as a site that’s not safe for kids.

While the term “substance exposure” is most commonly used in the context of a woman using substances during pregnancy (and the effects this has on the baby), today we’ll focus on a different aspect: substance exposure on the internet.

In our day and age, substances are all over the internet, and your child will likely encounter them in one way or another – whether through news stories, social media, or even indirectly: through their friends who came across something online.

To reduce this exposure, you can take certain precautions. In this article, we’ll discuss what substance exposure on the internet is and how you can protect your child. Stay tuned for valuable insights!

What is substance exposure on the internet?

As we mentioned in the introduction, “substance exposure” is typically used in a different context, but it can also describe how young people learn about drugs—not just their consequences, but what certain drugs do and how they can obtain them. The internet is a vast pool of information, and with just a few clicks, anyone can learn anything – from how to cook pasta in the most effortless way to how to obtain illegal substances. This freedom of information can be a troublesome double-edged sword. Fortunately, there are steps parents can take to protect their children from early exposure to drugs online, steps that could help prevent risky behaviors later in life.

How big of a deal is substance exposure?

In other words, should we be worried? First, let’s examine whether there has been any research on the relationship between substance exposure on the internet and consumption, and if so, what the data reveals.

While there still aren’t papers that examine the relationship most directly, one study published in Health Affairs concluded that the rise of illegal online pharmacies has made it a lot easier for young people to obtain prescription drugs without actually having them prescribed. Additionally, the researchers believe that the increase in internet use may be linked to higher rates of prescription drug abuse in the US. Although the study has some limitations, it highlights the need for better monitoring.

Even Forbes has covered it: the internet is overflowing with recipes and DIY guides; a clever teen can easily find step-by-step instructions on everything from growing marijuana to getting high off common household items.

The role of pop culture and media

It’s not just recipes and consumption guides we need to worry about; pop culture – through popular music, movies, and TV shows – also plays a significant role in exposing young people to various substances. Think about how many popular songs today glorify some kind of substance use.

The influence of pop culture’s most successful export – music – isn’t to be taken lightly.

How to protect your child from substance exposure on the internet?

Let’s take a closer look at what you can do to prevent your children from being exposed to substances on the internet at an early age.

Stay up to date (be informed)

Knowing where to find the right information and staying up to date on how children can be exposed to substances online is key to better prevention. It’s always best to learn from trustworthy sources that offer expert insights. Resources like Little Creek Recovery offer expert advice on recognizing early warning signs and creating an open dialogue with your child about the risks of substance use. Prevention is always better than the cure and staying informed will help you gain a decent advantage necessary for keeping your children safe and sound.

Set up digital safeguards (SafeSearch)

You can enhance your child’s online safety by familiarizing yourself with the privacy and security settings on their devices. Begin by learning how to activate SafeSearch on search engines to filter out inappropriate content. Utilize parental controls to block unsuitable apps and restrict access to specific websites. If you need further guidance, don’t hesitate to seek help from IT experts, consult trusted online resources, or contact your device’s customer support.

Monitor your kids’ online activities (eyes wide open)

While some might find this as an intrusion of privacy, monitoring your kids’ online activities is a key part of keeping them safe in the digital world. Placing the family computer in a shared space makes it easier to spot what websites they’re visiting. Also, regularly checking the browser history can give you insights into their online habits, and if you notice any deleted history, it might be time for a chat.

Once they have their own phone, consider installing a parental monitoring app. These apps can track internet activities and even alert you if your child tries to access risky content or uses concerning phrases like “sneaking out” or “don’t tell anyone.”

Limit screen time (being a little strict won’t hurt)

You’re probably already doing this, but if not, you should start. Limiting your kids’ screen time is important to encourage them to spend time offline, enjoy activities with friends, and play outside, just like you did when you were young. Of course, each generation has its own way of having fun, and cutting your kids off the internet entirely isn’t really the answer. However, a bit of limitation can be very beneficial. It’s not about being overly strict or conservative; many professionals agree that managing screen time is crucial for your children’s optimal growth.

Talk to your kids about substances (in an age-appropriate manner)

You can’t discuss substance abuse with your six-year-old the same way you would with a twelve-year-old, and even a twelve-year-old may not fully grasp the topic. However, it’s important to find an age-appropriate way to talk to your children about substances. Encourage open communication and stress that substances, whether legal or illegal, are not a solution to life’s challenges. If your children are old enough, sharing your own experiences in a straightforward, non-alarming manner can help them understand better.

Conclusion

Keeping your children safe from substance exposure on the internet or elsewhere is a crucial part of parenting. While it might feel like you’re going to become a cyber detective or overly watchful, implementing these practices will help ensure your kids are protected from harmful content they’re not ready to engage with, protected from a world they should never become a part of.