Screen Time: Supervision is Key

I often describe parenting with digital devices as a little bit (or a lot) ‘dementing’. What I mean by this is that it's hard work and relentless. While none of us, I included, profess to parent perfectly, I understand that supervision is key without a shadow of a doubt. Like in the offline world, we understand that children cannot be left alone because of the risks we know exist. They need age-appropriate supervision. Supervision refers to having children using internet-enabled devices in communal areas of your home. Simply put, the risks far outweigh any possible benefits of primary school-aged children being allowed to use devices in their bedroom (or behind closed doors). Although not likely to be a popular decision, we urge every family to set an expectation that devices are only used in communal areas of the home. The reason that supervision of internet-enabled devices is so important is that it will minimise (notice how I didn’t say eliminate) risks of:

• Cyberbullying
• Grooming by predators
• Exposure to inappropriate content

To further support you and your family in keeping children safe online, we highly recommend using parental controls. Parental controls are settings that can be used to help supervise and manage device use. One of the best examples of effective parental controls is Apple’s Screen Time setting. Please have a look at the eSafety Commissioner’s guide for more info: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/taming-technology Above all else, we encourage parents to start and continue conversations about their children’s experiences online. Communication will work side-by-side with supervision and boundaries to mentor our kids to navigate the online world more safely. Guest Contributor: Carley McGauran & Martin McGauran Business Name:  Inform & Empower Publisher: Digital Schools Carley McGauran (renowned as the ‘practical parent psychologist’) together with Martin McGauran (experienced primary school teacher and consultant) founded Inform & Empower. They promote healthy school communities through incursions, teacher professional learning and parent education on a range of topics including cyber safety, wellbeing and readiness for school. For more information visit www.informandempower.com.au ——- PUBLISHER’S DISCLAIMER: The publisher of this blog post (Digital Schools PTY LTD) works in partnership with the school as a 3rd party provider to help build and maintain the school website. Digital Schools sources a range of experts who provide products and/or services to educational institutions and we work with them to produce and publish topical information in the form of blog posts that we think  may be relevant, interesting or topical to families within the community. The views, opinions and content listed in this blog post are that of the guest contributor and/or publisher (Digital Schools). It should be noted that whilst the publisher and guest contributors are acting with the best intentions and in the best interests of the school and their community to provide helpful or interesting information, sometimes the content may not necessarily reflect the views of the school. The information in this blog post is not meant to be used, nor should it be used, to diagnose or treat any medical condition. For diagnosis or treatment of any medical problem, consult your own physician.  The school and the publisher of this blog post  are not responsible for any person reading or following the information in this article who may experience adverse effects. Any references to external websites or sources are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement by the school or publisher in any way and the publisher and/or school cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information listed. If you have feedback on any content on this platform, you can submit it to the publisher using the feedback link provided at the bottom of this page.