Practical family guidance

Children and teenagers

Online-safety guidance for children, teens, teenagers, parents and grandparents, including parental controls, games, messaging and social media.

Start with their age and experience

Age is only a guide. Children develop at different rates, and the right balance depends on the child, the device and what they do online.

Under 7

Build safe habits together

Use devices nearby, choose content together, protect purchases and teach children to ask before tapping a message, advert or link.

Ages 7–11

Games, messages and first independence

Talk about in-game chat, purchases, personal information, upsetting content and how to get help without fearing an automatic ban from technology.

Ages 11–13

Prepare for social media

Check platform age rules, privacy, location sharing and whether your child is ready. An age gate is not a safety control and can sometimes be bypassed.

Teenagers

Support growing independence

Keep conversations open about privacy, relationships, pressure, scams, account security and where to get help when something feels wrong.

Settings help—but they are not the whole answer

What parental controls can and cannot do

Controls can help you

limit purchases, mature content and some communications;
set downtime or daily limits;
manage app installation and account privacy; and
provide a useful starting point for family rules.

Controls cannot guarantee

that every unsuitable message or image is blocked;
that a child will never find a workaround;
that friends’ devices have equivalent protection; or
that technology can replace trust, conversation and support.

A useful family rule: A child should be able to ask for help without immediately losing every device or app. Fear of punishment can stop children telling an adult when they most need support.

Useful places to continue

This section will grow with age-specific guides. These existing CyberSafeHome routes are useful starting points today.

Free online-safety training

Use trusted, no-cost learning selected for beginners and families.

Explore free training

Protect family accounts

Use unique passwords and an extra sign-in check on email, gaming and social accounts.

Explore account safety

Make the home network safer

Review the Wi-Fi, router and connected devices used by the whole household.

Explore your digital home