Category Archives: Cyber Safety Education

Cyber Safety Education issues, ideas.

Someone Should Have Told Me

Someone Should Have Told Me


Book review of “Someone Should Have Told Me”, a book for parents to read and discuss with their young children, about being exposed to scary, weird stuff online by Holly-ann Martin from Safe 4 Kids.

Often when I’m giving a presentation on Cyber Safety, I will recommend West Australian Child Protection Advocate Holly-ann Martin from “Safe 4 Kids” books and website, to help parents find a way to have discussions with children about seeing pornography or how to deal with other scary or uncomfortable things they see on the internet.

Increasingly parents are being advised to address these sensitive issues before they arise. Children are being introduced to the internet and digital technology at younger and younger ages, so these discussions about these sensitive subjects need to take place not when children are teens, but when they are in primary school.

Your child may not have access to a digital device yet, but on visiting a friend or family member they may have. They may also inadvertently access an older person’s device at home without your knowledge. I have heard terrible stories from parents of children working out how to use a search engine on their parent’s phone to look up perfectly innocent words, only to come across horrific pornography right at home where they are supposed to be safe.

As Holly says in this book, it’s not a matter of if your children will be exposed to adult material online, but when. Of course, adults can try to ensure all digital devices are locked down at set with child-friendly filters, but even the best security on a device might let something through that wasn’t expected.

Be sure to sit with your younger children when they are using internet-connected devices, ensure that they only use age-appropriate apps and stay offline as much as possible when younger. Using digital devices in offline mode with child appropriate apps is far safer than connecting the device to the internet.

Having regular safe discussions with your child about digital devices is essential to protect them in the future. This book helps parents to start having these sometimes difficult conversations with their child. It features delightful child-friendly illustrations and simple messages that are not scary. Parents are guided to use age appropriate language and an approach so that children are not frightened of technology.

At the back of the book are instructions on how to use the book, and some background about what to look out for, and how to deal with a situation should you discover your child has seen pornography or has had contact with a stranger online.

Holly has a whole series of similar books about child protection.

I put some questions to Holly about what her book is all about and what she does.

Holly, what is your background in child protection?

I’ve been teaching Protective Education to children in schools for over 30 years, in 2007 I took a loan out on my home, quit my job and have been teaching it all over Australia since then.

Why did you write this book?

After teaching my program to over 5500 children in 2017, I was greatly concerned with what children were telling me what they were getting up to without their parent’s knowledge online.

How should parents use this book?

I wrote my book as a stimulus to start these vital conversations between parents and their children.

When do parents need to start talking to children about safety online?

I believe parents need to start having these conversations, especially the one about pornography, by six years old at the latest.

Why do children talk to strangers online?

Unfortunately, many parents still teach their children about stranger danger, but that is in the real world, children don’t understand that the rules still apply in the online world too. They think just because they are in their home that they are safe and unfortunately parents don’t know how to talk with children about online grooming and other tactics that people use to gain children’s trust.

Why do children share intimate photos of themselves?

There are lots of reasons children share intimate photos. They don’t understand the implications of it, how it can be used to extort more photos. They also want to be liked and validated and told they are beautiful or handsome.

What stops parents from discussing some of these issues with children?

I think often parents themselves don’t know the issues online and don’t realise the dangers that are at their child’s fingertips, especially when it comes to pornography and the ease that children can come across it either by searching it out or accidentally. Most children spend a great deal of time on YouTube and there is so much inappropriate content on there. Parents don’t understand how to set privacy settings, as well as many children, are live streaming, which parents don’t know about either.

What happens if children do fall victim to predators online?

I always encourage children to speak to a trusted adult about it, but if they feel they can’t, to ring the Kids Helpline as they can help children get in touch with the eSafety Commissioner.

How can we make it safer for children online experience?

Education, Education, Education. Educate children, their parents and teachers need better training also.

Where can parents buy your book? https://safe4kids.com.au/shop/

Where can they find out more information about what you do? www.safe4kids.com.au I also have a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Safe4KidsAbusePreventionProgram/ and a YouTube channel where I share lots of free content. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx6XeUtZ1_TsKjH49Ydi-iQ?view_as=subscriber

Thank you, Holly-ann Martin

8 Year Olds On Social Media – What Parents Should Know

8 Year Olds On Social Media – What Parents Should Know

The last few weeks as I’ve been holding Cyber Safety Seminars around some Sydney Schools, I’ve been hearing some alarming news from teachers. The increase in the uptake of adult social media apps and the subsequent behaviour on those apps has been an increasing problem. Some teachers believe that around 70% of stage 2 students… Continue Reading

How To Book The Cyber Safety Lady For A Talk

How To Book The Cyber Safety Lady For A Talk

Leonie Smith is “The Cyber Safety Lady” Book “The Cyber Safety Lady” For Your School, Business or Event Sydney based, Leonie, is one of Australia’s leading Cyber Safety Experts. She is a registered provider with the Australian Governments Office Of The eSafety Commissioner. Her practical “How To” approach to Cyber Safety gives attendees the tools to help solve issues… Continue Reading

Snapchat, Musical.ly, and Instagram – 8 Year Old Children on 13+ Apps

Snapchat, Musical.ly, and Instagram – 8 Year Old Children on 13+ Apps

Reflections on 2017 This year I’ve been to Perth, Kangaroo Island, Tasmania, Townsville and Griffith among other exotic locations. It is fascinating to see how each location differs with their approach to online safety and how the community is, or is not… getting involved. I was heartened to see some of the smaller communities I visited like Kangaroo… Continue Reading

70 Schools Targeted In International Porn Ring

70 Schools Targeted In International Porn Ring

  As I get ready to head off to speak at another parent Cyber Safety education evening tonight, the news about a forum hosting nude photos of underage girls from over 70 Australian schools has been revealed. No doubt there will be questions tonight from the parents about this horrific story. Cyber safety educators, parents, police… Continue Reading

Sexting And Teens

Sexting And Teens

I was invited to be part of today’s Channel 7’s Daily Edition program to discuss some new findings from a recent Australian study of 1,200 teens and their experiences with sexting, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Mail UK. The term sexting refers to the practice of sending sexual photos to another person via… Continue Reading

I Thought I Was Pretty Cyber Savvy, And We Were Safe…

I Thought I Was Pretty Cyber Savvy, And We Were Safe…

This is THE most common phrase that I hear after I’m contacted by a parent when something has gone wrong for their child online. The second most common phrase is, “I’m really clueless about all of this, I wish I knew more”. The reason these parents are contacting me and saying one of those two… Continue Reading

Protecting Your Family Photos Online

Protecting Your Family Photos Online

This week I appeared on the Channel 10 TV Morning Show Studio 10 to discuss with the panel a recent story that was doing the rounds on media about a pair of Dutch Cyber Safety Vigilanties who had created a website called Koppie Koppie, where they are advertising coffee mugs for sale with stolen photos of… Continue Reading

Cyber Safety Education Is The Key For Keeping Students Safe Online

Cyber Safety Education Is The Key For Keeping Students Safe Online

Recently, I was interviewed for Education Matters Magazine about raising cyber safety awareness in school communities. Click on this Link To read the whole article: I’m convinced that Cyber Safety is a whole community responsibility, not just the schools, or the Governments, or parents or the users! It’s simply not good enough to sit smugly… Continue Reading