01 April 2020
Kia ora e te whānau,
I hope this email finds you and your whānau well in what will be nearly a week of lockdown. That you have managed to spend quality time with each other and finding ways to be creative in a safe manner.
Here is a message about how we can keep our children safe
Keeping on line safe
As we do more and more online due to the circumstances, this may be a great opportunity for parents, caregivers and whānau to discuss internet safety with your children – of all ages. Maybe discuss and come to an agreement with them on what they can do online including sites they can visit and appropriate behaviours including:
- reviewing and approving games and apps before they are downloaded
- reviewing privacy settings of sites and applications
- checking children’s profiles and what they are posting online
- check the sites your child is accessing
- reminding children that anything that is posted online will be permanently on the internet
- taking the time to understand what sites they are visiting and who they are talking with and check in regularly
- some social media sites have age restrictions to join, check these before letting your child use them or join them
- monitoring a child’s use of the internet and consider having them use it in an open, common area of the house
- making sure your children know to report any activity they don’t feel comfortable with to parents and caregivers straight away.
There is a unique opportunity during the lockdown of families going out together, albeit close to home, but if your child is going out on their own it’s still important to check where they are going.
- Netsafe continues to be available to provide you and your parent and caregiver community with support for online safety. They have information for parents and caregivers and have pulled together their top tips for online safety during the lockdown. To report an incident To Netsafe – https://www.netsafe.org.nz/reportanincident/
- If you think a child in your care is the victim of online exploitation or abuse, report it to Police – if you or a child are in danger or a crime is being committed, call 111 or visit your nearest Police Station immediately.
If we all work together to make sure children are safe online, we can make the internet a great tool for people of all ages.
Flu tracking
As mentioned yesterday by the Ministry of Health, Flu tracking is an online survey which asks if you have had a fever or cough in the last week and which can help us track COVID-19. Registering online will help our surveillance efforts by providing early detection of community spread of the flu and also of COVID-19 symptoms.
We encourage people to register online at https://info.flutracking.net/
This is a practical thing everyone can do to help us monitor flu and COVID-19 symptoms throughout NZ.
Stay safe
Stay at home
Stay inside.
Kia Kaha
Whaea Maria Baird
