Today’s primary school students are true digital natives. Unlike their parents, they are growing up in a digital-first world. With smartphones, tablets, smart TVs and smart speakers available throughout the home and classroom, children are constantly seeing just how much adults depend on the internet.
At the same time, the variety and quality of digital content — from audiobooks to educational and ‘edutainment’ content — has exploded compared to a generation ago. This shift means three things:
- Children master technology much faster and much earlier than ever before.
- This isn’t inherently bad; digital tools offer immense educational benefits.
- However, children are often just a click or two away from bad actors lurking online.
The solution isn’t to disconnect your child from the online world, but to teach them how to navigate it safely. You can do that by talking to them.
We teach our children not to talk to strangers long before they meet strangers in a park. We don’t tell our children not to ride a bike; instead, we give them a helmet to protect themselves. Teaching online safety works in the same way.
Starting early is crucial to make sure that children have the mindset, instincts and the foundational toolkit to protect themselves as they navigate the digital world. It shouldn’t start when they encounter a danger but well before, so that when they see a trap, they know what to do by instinct.
How the 4S Cyber Shield can help
Online safety conversations don’t need to be boring or complicated. You can use the 4S Cyber Shield, an easy to remember mental model.
- Spot: Notice the little clues that something is not right, such as a weird website or a message with many mistakes.
- Stop: Stop clicking, stop talking or close the tab if something feels ‘yucky’ or uncomfortable.
- Shield: Protect personal information like passwords, birthdays and addresses; never giving them to strangers.
- Share: Share worries with a trusted adult like a parent, carer or teacher — someone who is a safe person to you.
The Cyber Shield empowers children to take action, and move beyond fear when something strange happens online.
Adapting the message as children grow
As a child’s digital world expands, so must our conversations. Choose an age below to learn more.
At this stage, children primarily watch videos or play simple offline games. The focus here is making sure that they do not accidentally click any tempting links. Just as Hansel and Gretel were lured by treats, ‘phishing pranksters’ use flashy rewards like free toys to trick kids into tapping things that could harm their devices or data.
So, when talking about online safety, you want to focus on getting them in the habit of coming to you whenever something new happens. Whether it’s a new video, an ad or a new element in their game, they should come to you so you can talk about it.
As kids move into interactive gaming and school-based digital learning, the stakes rise. Conversations must shift toward strong passwords, identity theft and social engineering. This is the age to warn against ‘friendly fraudsters’ who might pretend to be a friend’s sibling just to steal ‘VIP secrets’ like home addresses or pet names. Children also need to know how to create strong passwords to protect their online presence.
As children enter their teens, they become more social and explore new ways to communicate with others. This can leave them open to bad actors seeking to do harm. They also face a world where AI can mimic voices and faces to create incredibly convincing scams.
At this stage, it’s vital to discuss their digital footprint — the idea that what they share might be accessible to many more people than they intended, and it could stay online forever. They need to learn to ‘shield’ their future selves by being cautious about what they post and who they trust in a world of manipulated media.
How to empower your child online
When addressing online safety, it isn’t about creating fear but empowering your child. The EARS framework is a mental model we at Cyber Ved designed to help parents and educators guide children through the complexities of the digital world. It provides a structured yet approachable way to maintain ongoing conversations about online safety.
The framework is broken down into four key actions:
- E – Emphasise empowerment: Reinforce to your child that following safety steps gives them control and makes them active participants in their own digital security.
- A – Be approachable: Ensure that your child feels safe and encouraged to share their online concerns without the fear of being judged or having their devices taken away.
- R – Repeat: This is not a one-time talk; keep conversations about online safety ongoing. Return to conversations about tough topics and their favourite apps or platforms to reinforce safety.
- S – Practise scenarios: Discuss hypothetical situations based on the ‘Spot, Stop, Shield, Share’ model, such as asking a child, “What would you do if a game asked for your birthday?”
This framework is intended to serve as a ‘compass’ for parents and carers, moving past fear-based parenting and focusing instead on building a generation of resilient, confident digital citizens.
It’s never too early to be safe.
