1. Familiarise yourself with the sites your children are using. Ask your child what social networking or other sites they are using and how they work. This will help you understand your child’s habits and whether they understand the issues associated with using the service.

2. Your child should understand the importance of protecting their privacy online. Many, if not all of the key social networking sites provide privacy tools to ensure users can manage who they choose to interact with and the friends that can place comments on their blogs or personal sites.

3. Your child should think carefully about adding a stranger to to their “friends list” even if another friend has recommended them – People are not always who they claim to be.

4. Photos and descriptions on their profile should be suitable, i.e. not provocative. Check with your child whether they are confortable with everyone seing the content they are posting and whether it might embarrass them at a later stage.

5. Your child should think very carefully before agreeing to meet with someone they have met online. They should never assume that it is safe to meet someone because they have spent some time interracting online. As with all meetings with strangers, there may be risks and your child should know to agree such meeting with you or a trusted adult beforehand.

6. Talk to your child about online bullying and the importance of acting responsibly.They should understand how quickly rumours can spread and how damaging and hurtful coments and postings can be; Discuss what is ok and what is not ok. Make sure they understand that once a comment is posted, it may not be possible to retract it.

7. If you suspect that your child or another child is in contact with someone with a sexual interest in children, it is important to report it to CEOP. If you have copies of messages and/or images, it is important to keep them and pass them on to CEOP or law enforcement.
You can visit www.chatdanger.com, a site designed for teenagers for more information about the potential dangers online.