Wellbeing

E-Safety Resources for Parents

The eSafety Commissioner has released a new series of short videos for families to share with their children.

Join Wanda the echidna, River the sugar glider, Dusty the frilled neck lizard, and Billie the bilby on four journeys as they help one another discover their powers and learn how to be safer online.

For more information visit https://www.esafety.gov.au/.../mighty-heroes-student-page

The E-Safety Commissioner also has a number of free webinars to give parents and carers the knowledge, skills, and tools to support their children to have safe online experiences. 

Click here for further information or download the schedule for term 3 below:

Helping Children to Be Self-Advocates

Self-advocacy is an essential skill that we all need to develop to live happy, healthy lives.

In a nutshell, the term self-advocacy means to have a voice of your own. This skill ensures individuals can find more of what they want or need, and less of what they don’t want or need. Self-advocacy is fundamental to building confidence and self-esteem.

It is important to emphasise that having a voice of your own does not necessarily mean having a literal voice. People who are non-speaking are able to communicate their likes and dislikes, their wants and needs, in ways other than words.

It is crucial that children learn how to speak up for themselves, or seek the help they need, rather than relying on someone else to do this for them. In life, they will not always have a parent, caregiver, or teacher by their side to tell them what to do or to advocate for them. 

Self-advocacy in children might look like:

• Putting up their hand to ask for help if they don't understand a concept
• Standing up for themselves in a safe, fair, and kind way if they don't like how they have been treated
• Approaching another child who is doing something that looks interesting and asking what they are doing
• Moving away from an unwanted situation
• Approaching an adult in the yard and saying 'Please help me'

How can we help children be self-advocates?

• Help your child identify the areas of their life in which they are a strong self-advocate
• Help your child identify the areas of their life in which they need to develop more self-advocacy skills by speaking up more or playing a bigger role in decision-making
• Help children learn their rights and responsibilities (self-advocacy isn't just getting whatever you want. It is knowing what you are entitled to, what you need, and what is fair and safe for you to have)
• Build their confidence by giving opportunities to be independent e.g. children carrying their own school bag
• Talk about the positive things that happened when they spoke up, shared how they felt, or asked for help
• Praise and congratulate children for seeking help or giving things a go on their own
• Help them speak up if they are unable to, and then reflect on the good outcomes of doing that to encourage them to do this next time

To seek help when they need it:

If your child is needing help and is feeling big feelings in that moment, they probably won't be able to listen or engage in conversation there and then. You may need to wait until they have calmed down so that they can reflect on the situation and can think through different options with you.