Parents and online technologies: Raising awareness with parents (Will Gardner)

Safer Internet Forum, Luxembourg, October 21st 2010 © Childnet International 2010

Raising awareness with parents


“Helping to make the internet a great and safe place for

children”

Promoting the positive

Responding to the negative


What parents said in 1999

• Parents feel less Net literate than their children

• Messages need to be positive and empower

• Needs to be offline and online• Be imaginative• Must not assume any level of

computer literacy• Needs to be clear


How Childnet reaches parents

• Face to face in schools• In companies, lunch and learn• Leaflets, CDRoms for parents• DVDs/presentations that schools and

others could show/use• Websites – our own and others

(YouTube Channel, Facebook page etc)


Parents aren’t the same !


“I get so worried about what they might see that I

feel happier if they just don’t use it.”

Slough Mum (Pakistani)

“ I have a look if they call me

over, but I don’t really know what I’m looking at!”Birmingham Mum

“ I am frightened of the Internet

and I have no idea what my kids are doing when they

are on it! Birmingham Dad

“ What would I need a computer for really? The kids use it for

school, but not me.” Birmingham

Mum

“ The internet makes the culture

gap. Kids just can’t talk to their

parents about these things.”

Slough Dad (Bengali)

Fears of late adopters

Quotes from Childnet’s Parent’s Focus Groups 2006


•Understand the fears of parents

•Listen to what parents want

•Give them something they can use with their children

•Make sure it is in their language

•Recognise who they trust most to give the message

Helping Parents and Carers


Since 2006 2 million copies of the CDRom Know IT All for Parents has been printed, and have been requested and sent out. With Government funding we were able to develop this resource and make it free to all schools

Includes: • Summary content in 9 languages: Arabic, Bengali,

Gujarati, Polish, Punjabi, Mandarin, Urdu, Welsh and BSL.

• Content by Children and YP (for parents to show)• Interactive family agreement, plus recommended

sites• Signposting to all major support and reporting

resources.



Kidsmart website and resources www.kidsmart.org.uk


Skills School


Targeted quality resources


CONTACT:

Thank you

[email protected]

Technology

Parents and online technologies: Raising awareness with parents (Will Gardner)