Assistant Principal Update..

Wellbeing- Online Safety

In my own family, with three children aged 12,10 and 9, there are a few certainties when it comes to the use of technology in our house. Whether it is a desire to play video games, chat online with friends or watch YouTube videos (which is a discussion point right now in our house about what we do next given the change of age restrictions coming) we hear the same things from all of our kids:

All my friends have it better than me and have their own personal devices.
You have not given me long enough and I want more time.
Of course, everything I want to do online is appropriate for me. Don’t worry about it mum and dad.

It is important for kids to understand that every family has its own values, expectations and rules regarding the use of technology at home. Although it may feel to kids that everyone else “has a device”, research would say that is not true. According to the Esafety Commissioner, about half of children have their own device by age 12. Some further advice is offered on the Esafety website regarding how parents can address the challenges of screen time and determining if something is appropriate or not. Some of the advice given by the Esafety Commissioner includes:

How much time should my child spend online?

There is no magic figure. The right amount of time that children should spend online is debated. Choosing the right amount of screen time will depend on the individual needs of your child and your family.

When deciding how much time your child should spend online, consider the following factors:

your child’s age and their maturity level
their individual learning needs
your family’s routine
your level of involvement and interaction with them while they are online
the quality and nature of what they are doing online

It can be easy to focus only on the amount of time spent online, but the quality of the online content they are engaging with, and your involvement and interaction with them while they are online, is just as important.

How do I choose age-appropriate content?

Good-quality content can support your child’s learning, especially if it ties in with their interests or sparks their imagination.

The following sites can help you make informed decisions about your family’s entertainment choices.

Check age ratings and consumer advice for apps and games on devices your children use via the App Store or Google Play. Visit the Australian Classification Board when reviewing movies and games.
Raising Children Network has advice about choosing video games, online games and apps.
Children and Media Australia provides reviews of movies, apps and games, including gambling content advice, searchable by age and platform.
Common Sense Media (US) offers a database of apps, games and websites searchable by age.

A Mathematical Moment

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. A game for your family to play together to keep growing skills in counting, addition and multiplication.

What you need: Paper, pencil, at least 2 players, a dice (6, 10 or 20 sided depending on how hard you want to make the game)

The goal: Be the player with the most chocolate chips on your cookies at the end of the game.

What to do: Draw your cookies on the paper like the image below to get them ready (just circles without the numbers to start). Roll the dice. Choose which row you want to add that number of chocolate chips into. You must put that number on all cookies in the row after you have picked which one. After 5 rolls, add up all the chocolate chips on all your cookies. The most chocolate chips total wins. The larger the dice you use, the more challenging the mathematics could be when your family plays together.

Darren Thresher

Assistant Principal