Online gaming – how to keep your child safe
Children have always enjoyed playing games and today’s online environment offers a seemingly endless range of different types for them to play: sporting games, quests, challenges and missions – single player, group games, leader boards and online chat facilities … to mention just a few.
Often the easiest way for you, as a parent or carer, to assess whether a game is suitable for your child is to play it with them, but time pressures often make this unrealistic and even if you do have time, it is also important to equip your child with the knowledge to make safe decisions themselves – whatever age they are.
It can be difficult when adults or older siblings are gaming online and younger children in the home want to ‘play too’. Just as movies and TV programmes have age-ratings, so do video and online games. As parents and carers we know, all too well, how peer pressure can lead to seemingly endless pleading to be allowed to play. One thing we do have to support a, “NO it’s really not suitable for you,” response is the huge amount of research-based evidence out there. This shows clearly that playing violent video/online games has a negative influence on social behaviour. Interestingly, the opposite has been shown to occur when playing games where the main aim is to help someone or work as a team, which has a positive effect on behaviour.
Childnet.com offers a great introduction to online gaming for parents and carers which we have attached hard copy for your information. http://www.childnet.com/ufiles/Online-gaming-an-introduction-for-parents-and-carers-2017.pdf Childnet.com explain the different types of technology, the jargon and some of the potential problems with online gaming, they also give TOP-TIPS and SMART rules to help children stay safe online.
If your child’s game allows them to chat with other players online, then it is really important that your child knows the SMART rules. Whilst we teach Internet Safety every year in school, when children are playing at home, they don’t necessarily recognise warning signs because they are playing. It is recommended that children follow the SMART rules whenever they access the Internet (home, school, friend’s houses) so that it becomes second nature and helps them to avoid the risk of virus downloads or online grooming.
SMART rules:
- Safe: Keep safe by being careful not to give out personal information when playing online. This includes your e-mail address, phone number and password, as well as images and videos of yourself, friends and family
- Meeting: Meeting someone you have only known online can be dangerous. Remember that no matter how long you have spoken to someone for, or how nice they are, if you have never met this person before then they are still a stranger. If anyone asks to meet up then tell an adult immediately.
- Accepting: Accepting gaming requests, direct messages or clicking on links from people you don’t know can lead to problems – they may contain viruses, inappropriate content or nasty messages!
- Reliable: People we speak to online might not always be who they say they are as it is very easy to give away false information online. Try to only speak to your friends and family.
- Tell: Tell your parent, carer or a trusted adult if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online.
We hope this is useful and if you have any concerns or would like to speak to someone at school regarding your child’s online activities/gaming then please pop in for a chat and we will do our best to help.