Children use the internet for school, games, videos, social media, and talking to friends. That also means they can run into scams, cyberbullying, inappropriate content, fake accounts, and people who may try to take advantage of them.
Parents do not need to understand every new app or become cybersecurity experts. A few basic security habits, sensible device settings, and regular conversations can help children make safer choices online.
This guide explains the common risks children may face online, what parents can do to reduce those risks, and what to do when something goes wrong.
Why Online Safety Matters
The internet gives children many useful ways to learn, play, and stay connected. It also exposes them to risks that they may not recognize on their own. Children need guidance on what information to share, who to trust, and what to do when something feels wrong.
Children do not always recognize a scam, fake account, unsafe request, or inappropriate conversation. Parents can help by teaching simple habits and keeping communication open.
Common Online Risks Every Parent Should Know
1. Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying can happen through messages, group chats, social media posts, comments, games, or other online services. It can include repeated insults, threats, embarrassing posts, or unwanted messages. Because it happens online, the abuse can follow a child home and may be copied or shared with other people. It can also affect how a child feels about school, friendships, and themselves.
What You Can Do:
Simple scenario: Your child receives repeated insulting messages in a group chat. Help them save the messages or screenshots, then block and report the account when appropriate. If the messages include threats or involve classmates, consider involving the school or the appropriate authorities.
Let your child know they can tell you when something online makes them uncomfortable. If someone is abusive, help them save useful evidence, then block and report the account when appropriate. The important thing is to make sure your child knows they do not have to handle the situation alone.
2. Inappropriate Content
Kids might stumble upon content that’s not suitable for them, even when they’re not looking for it.
Children can come across violent, sexual, or otherwise age-inappropriate material even when they were not looking for it. It can appear in search results, recommendations, social media feeds, group chats, games, links, or pop-ups.
What You Can Do:
Parental controls can reduce the chance of children seeing unsuitable material, but they cannot catch everything. If your child sees something upsetting, focus first on helping them close it and talk about what happened rather than immediately blaming them.
3. Online Grooming and Predators
Some people online pretend to be someone they’re not to gain a child’s trust. This can happen through social media, games, group chats, or private messages.
Online grooming is when someone gradually builds a relationship with a child for an abusive or exploitative purpose. It may start with friendly conversation and later involve secrecy, gifts, requests for private photos, or pressure to move the conversation to a more private service.
A warning sign is when someone asks your child to keep the relationship secret. Other concerns include repeated requests for personal information or private photos, gifts that come with expectations, or pressure to move the conversation to another messaging app.
What You Can Do:
Use the strongest privacy settings that make sense for your child’s age and the platform. Talk regularly about who they interact with online, and explain why school details, addresses, phone numbers, passwords, and private photos should stay private. The goal is to build enough trust that your child will tell you when something feels wrong, rather than hiding it.
4. Scams, Phishing, and Fake Accounts
Children can also be targeted by scams. A message may claim that they have won a game prize, need to verify an account, or must click a link to unlock something.
Phishing is a scam that tries to trick someone into giving away information such as a password or payment details, or into clicking a harmful link. A fake account may also pretend to be a friend, a game company, or another person the child trusts. For a deeper explanation, see our guide to phishing attacks.
Teach children not to click unexpected links just because a message sounds urgent. They should never share passwords or verification codes in a chat. If an account asks for money, a gift card, a password, a private photo, or other sensitive information, they should stop and ask a trusted adult. When possible, check the request through the company’s official app or website instead of using a link in the message.
5. Gaming Safety
Online games can include voice chat, text chat, friend requests, in-game purchases, and links shared by other players. Gaming safety is therefore also about the people and information around the game.
Review who can contact your child through the game and make sure they understand that other players do not need to know their real name, address, school, phone number, or passwords. Review purchase settings to reduce accidental spending, and be cautious about free items, prizes, cheats, or rewards that send children to another website. It is also worth talking about people who try to move a normal game conversation into a private messaging service.
6. Privacy and Location Sharing
Children may share more information online than they realize. A photo, school uniform, location tag, or regular post can sometimes reveal where they live, study, or spend time. The FTC’s guidance on children’s online privacy also explains why parents should pay attention to how services collect and use children’s personal information.
- Review who can see your child’s profile, posts, stories, and friend list.
- Check which apps can access location, camera, microphone, contacts, and photos.
- Teach children to think before posting information about their school, home, daily routine, or family.
- Explain that something posted online can be copied or shared even after the original post is deleted.
Online Safety by Age
The risks change as children become more independent online. Younger children usually need more help with content, games, purchases, and who can contact them. Tweens often start using social media and group chats, where privacy and cyberbullying become bigger concerns. Teenagers may face more complex risks, including phishing, account theft, grooming, sextortion, scams, and pressure from people they meet online.
Younger Children
Focus on supervision, age-appropriate apps, safe content, simple privacy rules, and teaching children to tell an adult when something feels wrong.
Tweens
Talk more about group chats, social media, fake accounts, cyberbullying, sharing photos, and location settings. This is also a good time to teach children how to recognize suspicious messages and requests.
Teenagers
Teenagers usually need more independence, so focus on helping them make good decisions rather than trying to control every interaction. Discuss phishing, account security, online grooming, sextortion, scams, public posts, and pressure to move conversations to private services.
What Should Your Child Keep Private?
Children may not realize how much information a simple conversation or photo can reveal. Instead of giving them a long list of rules, explain why certain information should stay private.
| Information | Why it should stay private |
|---|---|
| Home address | It reveals where the child lives. |
| School name or location | It can reveal where the child spends time. |
| Live location | It can show where the child is right now. |
| Passwords and verification codes | They can give someone access to an account. |
| Private photos | They can be copied or shared without permission. |
| Daily routine | It can reveal when and where the child is usually present. |
How Parents Can Keep Kids Safe Online
Here are some simple steps to protect your child without making them feel like you’re spying on them. The FTC’s guidance for parents also recommends combining family conversations and rules with parental controls and other safety tools.
1. Use Parental Control Tools
Parental controls can help with screen time, app access, content restrictions, purchases, and some privacy settings. They are useful, but they should not replace conversations with your child.
- Google Family Link: Provides supervision and parental-control features for supported Google accounts and devices.
- Apple Screen Time: Provides built-in controls for supported Apple devices.
- Other family-safety tools: Third-party services are also available, but parents should compare supported devices, features, and privacy practices before choosing one.
Simple scenario: If your child uses an Android phone, you can review the apps they use, set appropriate screen-time limits, and manage certain app or content settings through the available parental controls. Google notes that Family Link features vary by device and service. Google Family Link provides the current supported-device information.
2. Set Clear Rules for Using Devices
Kids need structure, and clear rules can help them stay safe.
- Create a “no screens during meals” rule.
- Keep devices in common areas like the living room.
- Limit screen time, especially on school nights.
Example: Have a family charging station where everyone leaves their devices overnight.
3. Talk Openly About the Internet
Talking to your kids about their online world is one of the best ways to keep them safe.
- Ask them what apps they use and why they like them.
- Discuss real-life stories about online scams or fake accounts to make them aware.
- Let them know it’s okay to come to you if something makes them uncomfortable.
Example: If your child loves Instagram, sit with them and explore their feed together. Use this time to explain the importance of privacy settings.
4. Secure Your Child’s Devices
Basic device security is easy to overlook. Start with the basics:
- Keep the operating system and apps updated.
- Use a screen lock or other device protection.
- Use different passwords for important accounts.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication when the service supports it.
- Review app permissions from time to time.
- Use a secure home Wi-Fi network and change the router’s default administrator password if it has not already been changed.
5. Teach Online Safety Skills
Children do not need to become cybersecurity experts. They need a few habits they can remember when something feels wrong.
- Teach them not to reuse the same password across important accounts and to use a password manager when appropriate.
- Teach them to stop before clicking unexpected links or opening unknown attachments.
- Explain why sharing personal details online is risky.
Simple rule: If someone online asks for a password, verification code, private photo, home address, or other information that should stay private, stop and ask a trusted adult before responding.
Sextortion and Other Serious Online Threats
Sextortion is a form of online blackmail in which someone threatens to share a private image or other sensitive material unless the victim does what they demand. Teenagers can be especially vulnerable to this type of pressure. If this happens, do not blame or shame the child. Tell them to stop sending anything further, preserve the messages or other evidence that already exists, and get help from a trusted adult. Report the account or content through the platform and contact the appropriate authorities when there is a threat, exploitation, or other serious abuse.
Children can also encounter AI-generated fake images, voice impersonation, fake profiles, and scams that use AI to make messages look or sound convincing. They do not need to become AI experts. Teach them one simple habit: something that looks or sounds real online should still be checked before they trust it, send money, share private information, or take an important action.
What to Do When Something Goes Wrong
If Your Child Is Being Cyberbullied
- Listen to your child and avoid blaming them.
- Save messages, screenshots, usernames, and other useful evidence.
- Block and report the account when appropriate.
- Talk with the school if the situation involves classmates or affects school life.
- For serious threats or abuse, seek help from the appropriate authorities.
If Your Child’s Account Is Hacked
- Change the password from a trusted device if possible.
- Use a unique password that is not used on another account.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication.
- Check recovery email addresses, phone numbers, and active sessions if the service provides these options.
- Warn friends if the compromised account has sent suspicious messages.
If Someone Is Threatening or Grooming Your Child
Take the situation seriously and stay calm. Do not blame the child for talking to the person. Save messages or other evidence that is already available, stop unnecessary contact, report the account through the relevant service, and seek help from the appropriate authorities when there is a threat, exploitation, or other serious abuse.
If Your Child Falls for a Scam
If your child entered a password into a suspicious website, change that password immediately and anywhere else it was reused. If money or payment information was involved, contact the bank or payment provider as soon as possible. If the child installed an unknown app or downloaded a suspicious file, get help to check the device.
Signs That Something Might Be Wrong
These signs do not automatically mean that a child has experienced a cyber incident. Children can become quiet, upset, or more private for many reasons. But if you notice a sudden change together with a specific online problem, it is worth checking in.
- They seem worried about a particular person contacting them.
- They are receiving threats, repeated unwanted messages, or requests for money.
- They are being pressured to send photos or keep an online relationship secret.
- Their account has unusual messages, posts, or password changes.
If you notice any of these, gently ask them what’s going on. Let them know you’re there to help, not to judge.
Building Trust With Your Child
The goal isn’t to control every click or swipe your child makes. Instead, focus on building trust. Let them know you’re on their side and want to keep them safe.
Set reasonable rules, explain why they exist, and give your child a clear way to ask for help. As children get older, their apps, devices, and online relationships will change, so the conversation should change with them too.
A 30-Minute Device Safety Check
If you are setting up a child’s phone, tablet, or computer, you do not need to change everything at once. Start with these basics.
- Install pending operating-system and app updates and turn on automatic updates where available.
- Set a screen lock and make sure important accounts use unique passwords.
- Review location, camera, microphone, contacts, and photo permissions.
- Set appropriate content, app, screen-time, and purchase restrictions.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication for accounts that support it.
- Talk through the family rules so your child understands what to do when something goes wrong.
Final Thoughts
Keeping children safe online is not about removing every risk or watching everything they do. It is about helping them recognize unsafe situations and giving them a safe way to ask for help.
Start with a few basics: secure their devices, review privacy settings, set clear family rules, talk about scams and strangers, and keep the conversation open. As children grow, update the rules and settings to match the apps and services they use.
The internet will keep changing, so online safety needs to be an ongoing conversation, not a one-time lesson.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I keep my child safe online?
Start with the basics: secure their devices, use appropriate privacy and parental-control settings, teach them not to share sensitive information, and make sure they know they can come to you when something feels wrong.
Should parents use parental controls?
They can be useful for managing screen time, apps, websites, purchases, and some communication settings. They work best when combined with clear family rules and regular conversations rather than being used as the only safety measure.
What information should children avoid sharing online?
Teach children not to share passwords, verification codes, home addresses, school details, phone numbers, private photos, or their regular location with people they do not know and trust.
What should I do if a stranger contacts my child?
Stay calm and ask your child what happened. If the conversation is inappropriate, threatening, or secretive, save the messages that are already available, stop unnecessary contact, and use the platform’s blocking and reporting tools. Seek additional help if there is a threat, exploitation, or abuse.
What should I do if my child’s account is hacked?
Change the password from a trusted device, use a unique password, enable multi-factor authentication, review recovery details and active sessions, and warn contacts if the compromised account sent suspicious messages.
