Smartphone Safety for Children.

*Smart phone's for children, it's not something I relish the thought of I have to say. We are a family that uses technology alot, my husband works in cyber security, I blog (obviously) and often browse the internet and my children know how to navigate a tablet better than me. I'm not one to shun technology, I think it's just part and parcel of the modern day we life in and I'm really not sure if we could function without it. My eldest is 5 and although he's no where near old enough to get a phone I think it's a good time to think about smart phone safety tips. As mentioned above my husband is pretty hot on security so he has advised a few tips to be aware of if you're thinking of purchasing a smart phone for your child. 

• Firstly, chat to your child and lay down some ground rules. They don't need to be overly strict but a good, honest relationship with your child will make them much more willing to listen and hopefully agree to the safety rules when using a smart phone.

• Choose an Internet provider than has parental controls, this is so important to enable you as a parent to have control over what your child does on the phone. iD mobile or Tesco mobile are two that offer this in the UK.

• Make sure you're blocking all those premium rate numbers, no one wants to have a huge phone bill to pay, in the same instance ensure you have a parental pin set for the app store so there is no unwanted apps suddenly being charged to your account

• Set a data limit and a call spending limit, should aid with avoiding those nasty, unwanted costs that no one wants to receive! 

• Finally, have an open and honest discussion with your child about the Internet and all the nastiness that can be found on it. Educate your child about how to use the Internet and phone safely. This visual guide from Tiger Mobiles also runs down how you can protect your child on several of the popular social networking apps and is very detailed.

• Finally, remind your child who to call in an emergency.....999 as well as having some pre set numbers so your child can ring these if needed.

Has anyone else got any tips that they would like to share with regards to smart phone safety?