Few scenes seem as sympathetic to us as a child recriminating their parents for trying to cross a red light, and it seems so because they are the demonstration of a small, but important, educational achievement: our children learn not to cross red and internalize efficiently. Can we get them to detect a malicious email (just an example of a basic security rule on the Internet) and act on it effectively? Yes, it can be achieved, and for this it is necessary that parents have the knowledge and concern similar to that of the traffic light to carry out this small and necessary educational effort.
The basic safety rules on the Internet are neither many nor complicated, but it is necessary to make an effort of information and subsequent application of rules that adults must make their own before pretending that their children apply them. Therefore, the first question to ask is what should I know as a parent?
The portal can be a good starting point in the personal process of information and training for parents in the different aspects of child and adolescent safety on the Internet. PROTEGELES is the Spanish member of the INHOPE organization, an organization funded by the European Union through its multi-year program on the protection of children in the use of the Internet and other communication technologies “Safer Internet Plus Program”. It works on illegal content on the internet, mainly child pornography, and information and complaint lines, and on its website we find information and resources that will allow us to focus on the problem. Links to resources as varied as the Phonbies project that with a cinematographic aesthetic presents us with the problem of viruses on mobile devices or on the web of cyberfamilies , they are completed with guides of teck hustlers, brochures and a wide range of materials.
Another portal that offers us a complete overview and a wide range of materials is the “Friendly Screens” initiative , supported by EDEX, an NGO dedicated to promoting the positive development of children and adolescents. PantallasAmigas seeks to promote the safe and healthy use of new technologies and the promotion of responsible digital citizenship in childhood and adolescence. It has a help section for parents, which allows you to make inquiries or share experiences.
CHAVALES is an initiative of the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and for the Information Society, launched by Red.es. This project tries to bridge the digital gap between parents and educators and minors in the use of information technologies. Their objective is to promote the use of technologies, but also to warn and train in the risks that their use entails. A complete resource search engine and a content download area with a convenient division into categories that include manuals that deal in depth with the different topics, didactic resources aimed at educators, games and didactic resources aimed at parents, use cases, etc.
These learnings do not differ from those necessary in any other field of social interaction, since they are only an extension to digital spaces of the responsibilities and norms of social life. Therefore, informed and trained parents must apply their own educational methods and philosophy of life. But since this is a technological blog, it is worth noting that the book by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson is available in eBook .
Discipline without tears, a very sensible text that can help us put in order our ideas on how to achieve the necessary acceptance by our children of the impositions and limitations that the responsible use of the Internet undoubtedly brings and the social possibilities that it brings us .