A BALLARAT school has called on parents to take responsibility for managing their children’s technology use after a primary school aged child was caught up in an online grooming incident.
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A junior school pupil from Ballarat Clarendon College created a social media account outside school hours and was unknowingly being groomed by someone they thought was another child, it was confirmed this week.
The school, which accommodates children aged three to 10 years, sent a letter to parents on Tuesday to remind them to be aware of what electronic devices children were using and why.
Ballarat Clarendon College school counsellor Dean Griffin said it was a timely reminder to all parents that technology was changing rapidly.
“The challenge for parents is to find a balance between giving their children the opportunity to develop skills around using technology safely and appropriately and simply preventing them from having access to it,” he said.
“If your kids are using technology then you have to take responsibility for managing its usage in your home. You need to be aware of what your kids are using and why. You need to make a risk assessment of the threats that exist and formulate a plan for how to mitigate these.”
Cybersafety expert Susan McLean said parenting in the 21st century meant parenting online. She said primary school aged children needed to be supervised by their parents when using electronic devices.
“You have to be with them every step of the way. They are not old enough to make decisions,” Ms McLean said.
Social media websites, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Skype have an age restriction of 13-years-old.
Ms McLean said there were a number of steps parents could take to protect their children, including turning cameras off devices and installing filters and other blocking software to minimise dangers, which is already done in schools.
Other safety tips for parents are to know the sites children are accessing, and set house rules about what information children can put online.
Mr Griffin said there were more risks than benefits in allowing children to access social media websites.
“These programs provide a window through which your child can be accessed by essentially anyone,” he said.
“Children are innocent, they trust that what is told to them is correct. They will believe they are talking to a child of their own age if this is what is presented to them. They need to be protected from this.”