Our children are using the internet.  This is okay. It’s a part of their world, as it is ours.   We need to remember though, that like we closely watched our child on the playground as a pre schooler, as parents we need to be watching our children when they are online.

Not everyone on the internet is a nice person, just like that playground.  But in this ‘space’ anyone can be there: child, teenager or adult, from any part of the world.

Some people put things on the internet, that our children (and even ourselves) don’t like, or want to see or hear.

There is a ‘challenge’ circulating at the moment, that’s been around a few times over the past few years, and has reappeared again this week.  It’s not the first of its kind, and it most definitely won’t be the last.

Please read the facts about this in the linked article: https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/02/26/momo-challenge-suicide-game/

Whenever we see things like this, or hear about these type of internet scary stories, check SNOPES first. It’s a fact checking site for hoaxes and fake news. Our kids may often hear about these types of things at school, but most likely it’s the caring, diligent parents amongst us who are becoming alarmed by the disturbing content some individual(s) are putting online.

MOST importantly we need to make sure our children use the internet on devices in a ‘public’ area of the home, and ensure they know to close the device and come to us safely whenever they see something they find scary, threatening or inappropriate online. 

Finally, we need to know the favourite apps our children are using (whether it’s YouTube comments, chat in Fortnite, content on TikTok), and work out the parental controls, if there are any, and how to report anything inappropriate.

Michael Shaw

Assistant Principal