Child online safety and cyberbullying: what parents need to know

Child online safety can feel like a lot to keep up with: games with chat, class groups on Messenger and WhatsApp, YouTube comments, short videos, and Facebook IDs opened with a made-up birth year. You don't need to understand every app to keep your child safe.

Most of what children do online is ordinary: cartoons, games, chats with cousins, schoolwork. Strangers, photo threats, scams and bullying are real risks, but they are manageable, and the strongest protection is a child who comes to you when something feels wrong. Below: the risks, what to teach, warning signs, what to do the same day and a 7-day plan.

Child online safety: what are the real risks at ages 8–17?

Online risks for children fall into a few groups. Knowing them helps you talk about each one calmly, before anything happens.

How to talk to kids about online safety, and keep them telling you

How to talk to kids about online safety matters more than any single rule, because no setting catches everything. Children tell parents who stay calm, don't blame and don't take the phone away for telling.

• Start before the first account, little and often: a few minutes at dinner beats one big lecture.
• Be curious, not scared. Ask your child to show you their favourite game or app, and who they talk to there.
• Agree the tell-me rule: if anything online scares, threatens or confuses them, they tell you, and they won't lose their phone for telling.
• Play 'what would you do if…': a stranger asks for a photo, a friend shares a mean post, a message says you've won a prize.
• Talk about kindness online too: what they post about others, and never sharing someone else's photo without asking.

Privacy settings and safer accounts: the basics for every age

Privacy settings differ by app and change often, so learn the principles and check them with your child on each app they use.

• Private accounts, so only approved friends see posts and only friends can send messages.
• Location sharing off, and no school name, coaching times or home area on public profiles.
• A strong password that friends never get; younger children share theirs with a parent.
• The real age on every account. Most social media and chat apps set 13 as the usual minimum age in their own rules; what age a child should get a phone explains the steps before that.
• No photo they wouldn't want the whole school to see. Once sent, a photo can be saved and shared anywhere.
• Devices in shared rooms for younger children, and chargers outside bedrooms at night for all ages. If late-night phone use is already a battle, see teen phone addiction.

If your child sees inappropriate content online

When a child sees inappropriate content online, stay calm and thank them for telling you; most come across it by accident. Ask how they feel, explain simply that it wasn't made for children, and review settings and where devices are used. If someone sent it on purpose, treat it as a grooming warning sign.

Strangers messaging my child: online grooming warning signs

Online grooming is when someone builds trust with a child in order to abuse or exploit them, often slowly and kindly at first, sometimes pretending to be the same age. Warning signs in the chat include:

• Lots of attention and flattery: 'You're so mature', 'Nobody understands you like I do'.
• Gifts: game credit, mobile recharge, money or presents sent to the house.
• Secrets: 'Don't tell your parents, they won't understand.'
• Moving the chat to a private app, or one where messages disappear.
• Asking for photos, for video calls alone, or to meet.

Signs in your child can include secrecy about the phone, a new friend they avoid talking about, unexplained gifts, money or recharge, deleted chats, late nights online, or seeming upset or jumpy after messages. If you notice them, stay calm and ask gently rather than grabbing the phone or accusing; a child who feels blamed may delete everything.

Photo threats, blackmail and scams: what to do the same day

If someone is threatening your child with a photo or a chat, or demanding money or more pictures, your calm reaction matters most. Blackmailers rely on shame and panic to stop children telling.

1. 1Stay calm and believe your child. Thank them for telling you, and say clearly that it isn't their fault.
2. 2Don't pay, don't send anything more, and don't reply or bargain with the person yourself. Paying usually leads to more demands, not fewer.
3. 3Keep the evidence without sharing it: screenshot the messages, the account name and profile, keeping any private photo out of the screenshots, and note the dates. Never copy, save or forward a private photo of a child, even to show someone.
4. 4Block the account and report it on the app.
5. 5Report it at your local police station (thana) the same day, and call 999 if your child is in danger now.
6. 6Stay close for the next few days and watch sleep and mood. If you change phone rules for safety, explain why, so telling never feels like a punishment.

If a scam has taken money or an account, report it at the police station too. Never share a code or PIN, even with someone claiming to be from the phone company or mobile banking.

Cyberbullying: what to do if your child is targeted

Cyberbullying follows a child home: cruel messages in a class group, being removed from a group, edited photos, fake accounts or insults during games. Signs include being upset after using the phone, not wanting to go to school or coaching, deleting accounts and poor sleep.

• Listen first, and don't take the phone away as a punishment; children who lose it often stop telling.
• Don't reply or hit back online; it usually feeds the bullying.
• Save screenshots with names, dates and times, then block and report the accounts. Your child can leave the group if they want to.
• Tell the school if classmates are involved, even if it happened at night; my child is being bullied at school has words for that meeting.
• Threats of violence, or sharing a private photo, go beyond bullying: report them at your local police station the same day.

A teen being harassed online by an adult, a stranger or a former friend needs the same steps. If your child is the one bullying, take it seriously but calmly: ask what happened, have them delete posts and apologise, and supervise more closely for a while.

In a Bangladeshi home: class groups, shared phones and the fear of shame

Many Bangladeshi children first go online on a parent's phone, a cousin's handset or a family tablet, and many open a Facebook ID or join a class group before 13. Child online safety here also carries a special weight: the fear of shame and gossip.

• Shame is a blackmailer's main tool. A child who fears blame, a beating or losing the phone may pay or send more photos rather than tell you. Say often: 'Whatever happens online, come to me. You won't be in trouble.'
• Girls are often blamed when a photo leaks. Make it clear at home that whoever shares or threatens is the wrongdoer, and tell only those who need to know.
• Class and coaching groups often include people nobody knows. Agree that your child doesn't accept friend requests or private messages from members they haven't met; teen group chats and online friends also covers checking a teen's phone.
• A Facebook ID opened early with a fake birth year is common. Rather than a secret account, talk about waiting, and when the time comes, set it up together with the real age.
• A shared family phone often holds a mobile banking app and family photos. Lock the banking app, and keep private family photos out of shared albums.

A 7-day plan for child online safety

A small step each day, done together, often does more than one big talk. Note how your child responds each day.

1. 1Day 1: Ask your child to show you their favourite app or game, and who they talk to there. Just listen.
2. 2Day 2: Agree the tell-me rule out loud, and promise that telling won't cost them the phone.
3. 3Day 3: Check privacy settings together on each account: private profile, location off, who can message.
4. 4Day 4: Play 'what would you do if…' with two situations: a stranger asks for a photo, and a mean message arrives in the class group.
5. 5Day 5: Agree device rules: shared rooms for younger children, chargers out of bedrooms at night, and screen time by age limits that protect sleep.
6. 6Day 6: Practise on one app together: take a screenshot, block an account and find the report button.
7. 7Day 7: Look back at what felt easy and what felt awkward. Keep what helped, and agree a monthly check-in.

When to act the same day, and when to get more help

Child online safety is less about watching every screen and more about staying the person your child comes to. ParentMind helps you note what happens each day, such as a bad evening after a group chat or a week of poor sleep, so patterns are easier to see; see how ParentMind works.