The Internet Rules

Are your children aware of the dangers of social media and the internet and how to stay safe online? Do you have rules about how much information they are allowed to share? Do they know the risks of sharing too much?

The other night I sat down with my two oldest daughters, Becky aged 11 and Ruby aged 10, and we watched Kayleigh’s Love Story and I also plan to discuss this with 13-year-old Ryan and in a toned down way to 7-year-old Rhian.

Kayleigh’s Love Story is a chilling film about a Leicestershire schoolgirl who was groomed online before being raped and murdered. The five-minute film was made by Leicestershire Police to warn of the dangers of grooming and sexual exploitation. It tells the true story of 15-year-old Kayleigh Haywood who began speaking to Luke Harlow, a man she had never met, on 31st October 2015. Over the course of 13 days, they exchanged 2,643 messages and Harlow told Kayleigh all the things many teenage girls want to hear, he told her she was beautiful and how much he cared for her and how special she was. Harlow was grooming Kayleigh, along with two other girls he had also been speaking to, but it was Kayleigh who finally agreed to spend the night at his house. She spent all night on the 13th November, as well as the next day. In the early hours of Sunday the 15th November, having been held against her will by Harlow and his next-door neighbour, Stephen Beadman, Kayleigh was raped and murdered by Beadman

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsbYHI-rZOE&w=320&h=266]

Kayleigh’s Love Story is a warning to children and young adults, both girls and boys, about the dangers of speaking to people they don’t know online and highlight how quick and easy it can be for children to be groomed online without them or those around them knowing it is happening.

My children don’t have any social media accounts at the moment, (Ryan did but he is currently banned from it because of his behaviour. Betty has asked for it but I am reluctant to allow her at the moment), but they do play online games on the internet such as Minecraft and Roblox. Both Minecraft and Roblox, along with other social games like Club Penguin and many, many more, also have the potential to be abused. Children create accounts and add friends and even chat online with their new friends, assuming that these friends are also children, but like with any other online account, no one knows who they are really talking to or what they are saying.

So after watching Kayleigh’s Love Story, Becky, Ruby and I began talking about what they could do to stay safe online and we came up with some rules which they have to obey in order to be allowed to use the internet.

• I have to know all their passwords and I have the right to check their accounts whenever I want to
• They are not allowed to add anyone that they don’t know in real life on Roblox or Minecraft (or any other social media accounts or games). If someone tries to add them and they think they know them, they need to ask them questions to prove that they are who they think they are and that they do actually know them.
• They are not to private chat, video message or skype with anyone they are not friends with and they don’t know in real life.
• They are never to arrange to meet in real life with anyone they met online
• Not to share their mobile phone numbers or email address with anyone they don’t know in real life.
• They are not to share any personal details such as their real names, their ages, where they live and where they go to school, email addresses or phone numbers on any posts, profiles or chats.
• If they post any pictures, they are to make sure they don’t show anything which could identify them or where they are, such as school uniforms or sports club kits or backgrounds which include signs or buildings which are easily identifiable. Also to switch their phone’s location off when taking pictures so that the pictures don’t display the GPS location of where the photo was taken.
• To never post or text any picture and/or message that they wouldn’t be happy to show me or their dad.
• Most importantly, if they have any messages, emails or texts which ask them to break the rules or makes them uncomfortable, upset or scared in any way, then they are to show them to me immediately and not to delete them hoping it will go away.