Frequently, harmful and inappropriate online content seen by goes unreported by children. This could be the result of a number of issues such as, the feeling of shame, embarrassment or that they might get into trouble. In some cases, it may go unreported as children do not know what they need to do in order to take action. So what can we do to encourage more children to report anything inappropriate they see online? First of all, we can encourage open conversations about what children see and do online. We can remind children that sometimes they have no control over what they see online and that it isn’t their fault if something comes up that they find upsetting. At home, you could also go through each app or platform that your child uses together to see how they can report content on each, in order to empower them to do so by themselves. As well as this, if your child is searching for anything online, encourage them to use a safer platform such as https://swiggle.org.uk/ to reduce the chances of coming across anything harmful.
