Keeping Your Daughter Safe on i-Devices

With the increasing prevalence of technology in almost every facet of the lives of young people, it can be easy to feel a lack of parental control.

On Monday 6 May, parents of students in Years 5 to 9 were invited to attend Lynette Coulston’s presentation on managing devices to ‘keep kids safe’ at this semester’s Girls Talk Parent Seminar. Lynette provided practical instructions to assist parents to limit screen time and set appropriate limits on website access and other privacy settings.

Lynette founded an IT support service, ITandCoffee, after a 28 year corporate career in IT. Combining her extensive background in a corporate IT career with her own experience as a parent, Lynette is well placed to offer professional advice in a user friendly manner. A mother of four herself, Lynette advised parents to discuss the need for age appropriate restrictions with their daughters to encourage appropriate online access.

Recognising that parents are increasingly feeling that their kids are racing ahead of them, and the need to better understand how to protect children online, Lynette is passionate about empowering parents to have a better understanding of technology.

Lynette outlined how parents can create a ‘downtime’ schedule to restrict specific apps on i-Devices, including iPads and iPhones. She also stepped parents through the new Apple iOS operating system’s Content and Privacy Restrictions to manage what apps can be accessed to protect their children from accessing ‘adult’ websites. Lynette explained how to prevent accidental experience.

Lynette touched on managing iCloud accounts, and how to set up iCloud Family to remotely manage the parental controls on your child’s device, including restrictions on YouTube content.

John Toulantas, St Catherine’s Director of Information Technology, also provided some information on the home filtering options for safe at-home management of devices. John sent parents information about Circle with Disney, a popular in-home cybersafety product for families. Circle with Disney lets parents manage screen time and filter content for every device in the home, helping children use the internet safely and responsibly. The companion product, Circle Go, takes the settings of the children’s devices that they have at home and extends those settings to 4G LTE and any other Wi-Fi network they join. Circle Go is available to purchase online through Cyber Safehouse or at JB Hi-Fi.

Following the session, attendees were sent links to Lynette’s ITandCoffee site and an array of resources. She also discussed a range of apps that parents should be wary of unless carefully supervised.

The following articles may be of interest to parents:

Mrs Merran O'Connor

Deputy Principal - Student Wellbeing

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