5 Parent Resources to Support Children in Being Safe & Responsible Digital Citizens

Kids today!  If you believed the headlines, you'd think that technology has created a generation of kids who are impatient, bored, and entitled. While that could be true, don't blame the kids or the tech. It is up to the adults in their worlds to ensure we raise kids who know how to be safe and responsible digital citizens.  

Educators do this by following the curriculum from providers like Common Sense Education, Google’s “Be Internet Awesome,” and EverFi’s “Ignition.”

I asked a group of Common Sense Educators which sites they recommend for parents. 

Below are the resources they suggested schools can share to support parents in keeping their children safe online.

5 Digital Citizenship Resources for Parents 

1) Common Sense Widget for Families

Want live, updated information regarding digital citizenship on your website? You can give parents easy access to advice on parenting in the digital age by adding the Common Classroom blog for educators and the Making Sense blog for families to your school’s or district’s site.

2) Live My Digital - Video Series & Fact Sheets

Produced in partnership with Digital Awareness UK this video series is designed to help parents keep their children safe online. It consists of six short films for parents, six matching films for children as well as downloadable online safety fact sheets. The resources are designed to encourage and support open discussions in families about how to enjoy the online environment while staying safe.

3) Protecting Kids Online - 1 Pager

Practical advice for parents from NetSmartz on some common sense ideas for keeping kids safe online.

4) Online Safety for Families

Wired Safety provides advice for keeping young people safe online at various ages from age 8 and under through the teenage years.

5) District Guidelines and Responsibilities

New York City schools created guidelines and outlined responsible internet use with students, staff and families which you can view at the links below.

• Social Media Guidelines - NYC
  These are the student guidelines schools share with parents. There are also guides for parents, infographics, and an activity book that go along with the guidelines.
• Digital Citizenship Responsibilities - NYC
  New York City Schools educators created plain language guidance to advice for supporting good digital citizenship with students and infographics to accompany this advice.

Your Turn

What do you think? What has your experience been with supporting parents in being safe online? Are these resources you feel would be helpful for the families of your students? Have you tried any of these resources? What did you think? Anything missing?