Internet Safety, for Kids

Seven episodes for children aged 6 to 8, hosted by Ben, a cheerful seven-year-old who lights up one icon on his tablet's home screen with every episode, ending with all seven glowing together. The course follows well-known online-safety education for young children, in the spirit of Common Sense Media, NCMEC's NetSmartz program, and Google's Be Internet Awesome curriculum: the internet is presented as a fun, useful place, and every rule is taught with a confident, upbeat tone, never a frightening one. Ben starts with the basics, always browsing somewhere a grown-up can see, like the couch or the kitchen table, never hidden behind a closed door, and moves on to personal information, learning that his full name, address, school, phone number, and photos stay only with his family, never typed into a screen alone. He meets the idea of a friend known only through messages and games, someone who might not be who they say they are, and learns to never keep a chat secret or agree to meet anyone in person. A shiny prize, an ad, or a download always waits for a grown-up before any click, and a password is a secret kept from friends and classmates but never from the grown-up who helped choose it. The course also teaches healthy skepticism, not everything online is true, especially when it seems too good, and that a friend's photo is never shared without asking first. It closes with the most important rule of all: if anything ever feels uncomfortable, Ben turns the screen over, closes it, and tells a grown-up right away, with the reassurance repeated throughout that telling is never wrong and never gets a child in trouble. No real app, game, or website is ever named, and nothing on screen is ever frightening, the course stays warm and practical from start to finish.