MNer in the UK or Ireland with a child aged 2-17? Take our survey - £100 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Mumsnet and Gransnet are working with the IWF (Internet Watch Foundation), a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, to find out more about how parents and grandparents address internet safety issues, and what they would like to know more about. This survey is going to explore how parents and grandparents think about internet safety when looking after their children or grandchildren.

This survey is open to parents and grandparents of at least one child/grandchild over the age of 2 and under the age of 18, living in the UK and Ireland. When answering the questions, please think about your youngest child or grandchild over the age of 2.

We’ll be asking questions about current technology and internet-enabled devices, so if you’re a grandparent, your experiences looking after grandchildren will probably be more relevant than your experiences as a parent.

Click here to complete the survey.

Finally, we just wanted to warn you that some questions in this survey address child sexual abuse and grooming. If you’ve got any concerns you want to discuss with an expert, or you want further advice about any issues raised here, please contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[corcaithecat]

2 of the questions near the end are duplicated and it won't let me go back to the survey to check which ones they were, sorry.

[BevBrook]

In the bit about how risky activities are it has using a social network site when not supervised by an adult twice and nothing for supervised by an adult.

[BackforGood]

I've done it, but it seems massively flawed, as it covers such a wide age range.
Clearly your answers for a 17 yr old are going to be massively different from if you have a 5 yr old.
Individual personality comes into it too - I had to monitor and limit dc1 FAR more than I do dc3.
However, mostly, what varies comes with age.
Compared with what I see around me in real life and what I read on MN, I'm probably on the stricter end of the parenting spectrum when it comes to social media - the age they were allowed it, the amount of time on it, etc - but my answers don't refelct that as I'm answering for a 16 yr old, not a 6 yr old.
Odd.
I'm not sure what they are going to learn from it.

[JellySlice]

Q12 has a typo (that first 'not').

[PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks]

Done 😆

[OfficeDictionary]

Done

[EskSmith]

I agree it seems flawed. I will come out as fairly laissez fire in this survey, in anything but. I monitor exactly what they do on line. However I believe that children need to use technology on a continuum. You can't ban and restrict it and then magically expect them to behave responsibly when they are 16/18 and have unfettered access.
I allow my children to use online games, eg roblox. However this is contingent on them only accessing agreed games and staying off chat. They will come and talk to me about anything they see that they don't like on line. I believe if you ban or constantly supervise you will drive them into secrecy as they get older.

[EskSmith]

Sorry meant to say 'playing an online gam' is a fairly wide term, even their school homework has them playing on online spelling game. It really really depends on the game!

[JugglingMummyof2]

Completed. When does the draw close?

[TellMeItsNotTrue]

Done but would have thought it would be more useful to do eldest child as they are likely to have more access to internet? I followed instructions and did for youngest anyway

[Whatonearthareyouwatching]

Done

[SluttyButty]

Done

[prettybird]

I agree: it's a flawed survey in that it will look like I am a lax parent, but ds is 17 now and having controlled his access when he was younger, not let him in to social media until he was nearly 13 (actually would've let him at 12 when he went to secondary) but he chose not to, not given a smartphone until he was 11 (and even then, it was on PAYG) and talked with him regularly, I was confident enough a few years ago that he could be trusted with unrestricted access.

He actual uses social media less than dh and me: spends his time getting info on world affairs from Reddit and Flipboard, and when he is playing on-line (in summer at least ), we can year him shouting when we're in the garden and he's got his attic room window open

He's off to Uni in September (won't turn 18 until after lectures start) and we will have zero control over what he accesses and does on the internet.

[llewejk]

done

[zen1]

Done

[dannydog1]

Done

[WishUponAStar88]

Done. I agree it’s a bit daft to include all ages in one survey. My dc is 3 so is under direct supervision for anything online - which is the odd cartoon on YouTube maybe once a week. I therefore have no parental locks etc but clearly this will be different as they get older!

[Charliejr16]

Done

[GorgonLondon]

Done but unsure why you asked about the youngest child. Mine are 4 and 8 so I answered for the 4 yr old as instructed, but the 8 yr old is more relevant.

[TheVeryHungryDieter]

Found the video-sharing/video-streaming questions a bit tricky to answer. What do you think of as "use"? Passive or active?

Passive use, e.g. Does my child sometimes watch videos of people making slime or opening kinder eggs or playing with trains and PJ Masks figures? Yes.

Active use: e.g. Does my child have an account on twitch or YouTube, or share their own videos? No.

Both types of use are significantly different and I would say require different categories to properly assess risk.

[millimat]

✔️

[PrinceOfCheeses]

I will look super lax as my children have web cam access in their bedroom, but that's literally only to talk to my mother!

[JugglingMummyof2]

So - who won?