(29 Sep 2015) LEAD IN:
For parents worried by their children's online lives, a website launched in New Zealand offers tips and advice on how to keep them safe.
STORY-LINE:
Oscar and Violet King are relaxing at home.
Violet is playing the game Minecraft on a tablet and Oscar is playing a game and looking at text messages on his new mobile phone.
Their mother Victoria Travers is with them, supervising their screen time and making sure they are staying safe while using their devices.
Oscar is 13, and Violet is 11. They both have access to devices and use them for socialising, keeping in touch with their parents when they are away from home and for playing games. They also use tablets and laptop computers to do their homework.
Travers says there are limits on how often the children can use technology, but they do use their devices on a daily basis.
"Every day they are using their devices. Either they are using it for homework during the week or else, and/or social media and a little bit of gaming. And at the weekends, it is their 'go to' where you have a keep a very close eye on it because it is very easy for it to blow out (of control) and it is very easy for them to spend hours and hours and time just slips away on devices," she says.
Travers says it has not always been easy monitoring their online use and she and her husband have come up with ways of ensuring the children are safe when using digital devices.
They use filters on each device and always supervise the children when they are online.
She and her husband have also joined a variety of social media sites to keep up with their children.
"We have found we have had to be flexible. We have had to recognise that ....helping our kids and supporting our kids to be digitally savvy and also to use digital devices as tools was really important. And we also knew that in terms of social media if they were going to be using social media, which they are, we also needed to be using it too. And we needed to make sure that we were smart and we were schooled up on how various social media sites work, and which ones sites we were comfortable with the kids using and which ones we weren't," she says.
It's a common problem for many parents in the digital age. That's prompted the launch of a new website in New Zealand to help parents who are unsure how to help their children stay safe.
It's been launched by the telecommunications company Vodafone New Zealand, internet safety organisation Netsafe and family organisation The Parenting Place.
David Atkinson is the creative director of The Parenting Place.
He says they have launched the website to help parents navigate their way through the online world.
"We developed the 'Digi-Parenting' website as a one-stop shop for parents to go to, to be informed, to get ideas and tips. But more than that it is actually just to be encouraged, to realise that although this is a bit scary and although you may have a lot of questions, there are answers to those questions."
The website answers questions such as, 'how can I get more involved in what my kids do on their computer?' And, 'are there any potential risks we should be aware of as a family?'
It also promotes a range of services and apps which filter and block inappropriate content.
Atkinson says talking to children and young people about the devices they use and the sites they visit is a good way for parents to be more involved with their children's online lives.
And getting to grips with the apps children are using is also a valuable tool to help protect them in the long run.
Lee Chisholm, is an education and training specialist at Netsafe.

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