It may feel strange that we’re talking about online maturity when we are showing children aged 7 to 11 years old the right way to play and learn online. The reality is some children have already had extensive exposure to online platforms by the time they are 8 years old. 

Online maturity plays a huge role in your child’s digital future. How you behave and engage with technology at a young age will determine how you move forward as you get older. 

Here are the key elements that determine your child’s online maturity: 

1. Access to devices
   Access to online means they can get online to play games, stream TV, watch YouTube channels or have their own device with internet access.
   Does your child have the freedom to access technology when and as they please?
   Is there a time limit already set up with rules and boundaries already in place?
2. Who do they access the internet with?
   If your child is streaming TV, they can access the profile themselves, but are they playing various games or browsing YouTube channels unmonitored?
   When they go online, do they do it alone, or with a watchful eye behind every click?
   Are they allowed to access the internet with older siblings, family, or friends?
3. Do you have privacy settings set up on all devices or child-friendly browsers in place?
   Whether they have supervised access or not, have you taken the steps to protect all devices in the household?
4. Does your family have regular open conversations about the digital world?
   Do you discuss the dangers of playing online together?

The Codey adventure has been designed to appeal to a wide range of ages, however, a child’s individual online maturity and environment will play a large role in his or her experience of the adventure. If at times, the delivery may seem slow, this is a deliberate action, to ensure there is repetition and reinforcement of key concepts. The content is what is important. If your child does have a high online maturity, use this time together to discuss what they know. Use the opportunity to improve your communication and understanding of each other’s perspectives. By starting the conversations now, you are creating a better relationship moving forward.

If there is only one change we can make with our future surfers, it must be to – Think. Before you click!

Codey Crawler and the Social Kids team will sleep well at night and you as a parent or guardian can rest easy that you are talking to your children about what they do online. We will have a safer, wiser, and kinder internet in the future. 

Join us – Make the time or use our supervised classes – Just don’t do nothing!