Parents seeking more information about keeping their kids safe online from online bullying and predators are the target audience of a workshop this Saturday, intended to teach them some tips and tricks on how to discuss the subject of online safety with their children.
The Let's Talk About Cyber Safety Family Workshop is a family-friendly event to be held this Saturday at Harcourt Memorial United Church and is open to parents and their children.
The organizers will split the parents from the kids during the event, said Belinda Gould, owner of Levelup Kids Learning Center Guelph, which is hosting the event.
“The parents get to sit and enjoy having an adult conversation without having to worry about the children and the children get a talk about safety and then we have a bunch of activities for them,” said Gould.
During the three-hour event, parents are offered tips and tricks on how to keep their children safe online and how to speak to their kids about why that is important.
“Instead of trying to hide under a rock we should try to encourage parents to keep the conversation open,” said Gould. “There are so many parents who don’t know the little tricks of how to encourage children to understand it’s okay to come to them they are being bullied or being groomed by predators online.”
The recent Momo Challenge hoax was an eye opener for a lot of parents when it comes to internet safety for their children, said Gould.
“There was a bunch of parents getting upset about it and then we found out it was a hoax. That intrigued me because it really showed what parents have to go through to determine what is real and what is not,” said Gould.
Some parents reacted to the Momo Challenge by banning YouTube in their households. Gould said that isn’t necessarily the best course of action.
“We understand technology is going to be a big part of their lives, at the same time we want to show parents how to encourage their children to do it safely,” said Gould.
While the parents are learning in one room, the children get a short talk about internet safety and then spend the rest of the time doing fun activities.
“We just talk to them before they start about online safety and things like not using our real name or birthday and why we don’t share our passwords,” said Gould.
The event will also feature a raffle for prizes, with each ticket costing $5 or five for $20. Proceeds will go to the Guelph Neighbourhood Group.
The Let's Talk About Cyber Safety Family Workshop is open to parents and children age seven to 12. The cost of the event is $28.12 per family.
Registration information for the April 13 event can be found at this link.
