T - Talking about safe phone use
Talking about safe phone use with the whole family
One of the most important steps when getting your child a new phone is to talk about how it will be used. This first activity from the NSPCC toolkit focuses on talking to your child about different ways you can use a phone, the kind of apps and games they could have, and understanding why trust and safety are important when using a phone.
Topics to talk about when it comes to phone safety
For each topic you discuss with your child, pick two questions to ask one another.
What does this family have to say about using apps?
A new phone often means new fun games - while a lot of these games are initially free, they can sometimes come with hidden costs. It can be easy to get caught up in the moment and end up spending lots of money to make progress in the game, or buy new things. That’s why it’s a good idea to agree as a family on a spending limit. You can set these in the game or on the device itself. Find out how to do this with our Digital Parenting Pro resource.
If you end up overspending on a game or app, try to stay calm and take this as an opportunity to talk about why this has happened and explore ways to stop it happening again. Support service GamCare has lots of accessible and helpful advice.
Now you’ve completed T together, it’s time to move on to R - Recognising rights to safety online.