Your Kids Mobile Phone

[Vinnie]

I was round at my mates and his daughter(14) was texting her pal that lived 5 doors away. Would it not be better to go round and see your friend and GO OUT and do something. He said this is what they all do, sit on their devices all the time.

Ive had iMessages from my bairn who was only upstairs in the house!!  He's only 10, and its ridiculously lazy!!  Technology ban for that nonsense!!

[Turps]

Following up on the initial post, I spoke to the lad about this last night.  I thought he was quite savvy, or at least, his school reports seem to suggest he's quite quick on the uptake.   Was a bit confused, therefore, that the school offers no advice on online security and the like as part of their Computing Science or RME classes.   That cant be right?

 

 

My other half is a school teacher and they definitely teach online security at her school.

Recently she had one of her class watch the BBC documentary Murder Games

Murder Games tells the true story of Breck Bednar, the 14 year-old schoolboy who was lured to his death after being groomed online by Lewis Daynes.

Worth a watch for anyone interested in this sort of thing.

[Vinnie]

Cheers ‌@‌Turps 

What school is that incidently?  And at what age level do they teach online security? 

[Turps]

Viewforth in Kirkcaldy.

I couldn't tell you the exact age they begin teaching online security, I believe that particular documentary would have been shown to some of the older kids given the nature of it.

She has mentioned a few other examples of teaching kids the dangers in social media etc. so I would guess from 1st year onwards.

[Vinnie]

Cheers.  I did think he was wrong that online security isn't taught in school.  Especially as its a big issue these days.

[Digs]

All of mine had it from Primary school at Camdean, and it has continued for my boys in high school. I quiz my youngest every now and again about what she should and shouldn't be doing and she knows the right way to behave/act, it's just a matter of trust and vigilance after that.

You also still have to monitor their general behaviour though. My eldest son was bullied all through 1st and 2nd year, by a group of girls. I know how that sounds, and to our eternal shame, we didn;t take it as seriously as we might, for the same reasons you are probably thinking now. He is a shy kid, and we put it down to that. However, long story short, he snapped one day and had a go back (verbally) in a vociferous and rather 'industrial' manner. The extent of it only came out because of that, and it was sorted, not without the ring leader posting stuff (lies and incitement for others to target him) on facebook about him, which I managed to screen grab and show the guidance teacher. Unbelievably, she frustratedly told us there is nothing she can do as facebook is technically out of school, but she said Facebook is the bane of their lives as teachers. She came down on them like a ton of bricks, and it was sorted out. 4 years later, the ringleader is now away from her family in a secure home, and the rest are now actually nice to him (something you would not believe if you knew the stuff they were doing and saying to him). The point of me telling folks this, is that when it was over, we were in the house and we were having a laugh, and my son burst out laughing at what I said, a proper belly laugh, and Mrs Digs and I both looked at each other, with the same realisation that that was the first time we had heard him laugh like that in months, and it hadn't registered. All stuff like bullying, grooming, etc all register subconsciously on thier behaviour. Kids are clever, they can find a workaround for most things tech, and so you have to ensure you stay on top of them as people too.