Cyber Safety/STEM

Have you had the chat?!

The school holidays are about to start, the weather doesn’t look great, so what might be the first thing students look to for some entertainment…… screens, well that’s what students are telling me.

As a teacher in STEM I often have open discussions with students about what their screen habits are. Today I asked around 50 students from Year 3 what they might like to go on with some free time from your parents on screens. 

Some of the most common answers were YouTube, TikTok, games and Snapchat. If you aren’t familiar with these, please feel free to look here. My purpose of talking to students about their online habits is to understand and guide students' habits. I’m not encouraging students to be on SnapChat and TikTok etc as it’s against the law for many primary aged students to be on these.

What we can’t ignore is our parental responsibilities and making sure we are  understanding and guiding our own child's screen habits. Why? Because this is crucial for their development and well-being. If you read last weeks newsletter article or have a quick google search we know that mental health, anxiety etc is now being directly linked to screen time for our children.

If you haven’t already had the chat, it’s better late than never. 

Start by creating a safe and open environment where your child feels comfortable discussing their online experiences. Ask open-ended questions about what they enjoy doing online and why. Show genuine interest in their activities, whether it's a favorite game, a YouTube channel, or a social media platform. This helps build trust and shows that you respect their interests. Maybe you could just sit and watch what your child is on for ten minutes. 

We shouldn’t wait until things go wrong before we start to be concerned! Have the chat!

Happy holidays, I am looking forward to sharing more next term and talking about more initiatives happening in our community, in particular “The Phone Pledge.”