Personal Safety and the Role of Technology
Educators play such an important role in the lives of children. The very nature of their day-to-day interactions with children puts them in a very special position to build on the safety skills children may be learning at home — particularly with regard to safety around the use of technology. As it can be difficult to continuously keep up with new technologies, Kids in the Know is committed to providing current educational material about how to keep children safe while online. Lessons are designed to address the content children may be exposed to online; the contact children have with adults or peers that may be inappropriate in nature; and the conduct of youth online that may cause harm to either themselves or another person.
Kids in the Know offers specific lessons about the role and potential impact of technology on children in order to better protect them. These include:
K–Grade 1
- KEEP and SPEAK Secrets
- How to Label Feelings
- Identifying a Grown-up Who You Can Go to for Help
- Trusting your INSTINCTS
- Boundaries – How to Be Safe
Grade 2
- How to Label Emotions
- Identifying a Safe Grown-up
- Safety Awareness
- Crossing Boundaries
- KEEP and SPEAK Secrets
Grade 3
- How to Label Emotions
- Identifying a Safe Grown-up
- Personal Boundaries and Assertiveness
- Friendships – Healthy vs Unhealthy Behaviours
- KEEP and SPEAK Secrets
- Online Safety
Grade 4
- How We Feel and How We Act
- Friendships – Healthy vs Unhealthy Behaviours
- Expanding the Circle of Protection Around Children
- Common Lures
- Online Safety
Grade 5
- How to Label Emotions
- Circle of Protection
- Friendships – Healthy vs Unhealthy Behaviours
- Boundaries
- Common Lures
- Online Safety
Grade 6
- Emotional Range
- Circle of Protection
- Healthy vs. Unhealthy Boundaries
- Relationships
- Common Lures
- Online Safety
Grade 7
- Emotions
- Identifying Personal Boundaries
- How to Set Personal Boundaries
- Friendships and Relationships
- Online Record
- Getting Out of Unhealthy Situations
Grade 8
- Identifying Feelings
- How We Think, How We Feel
- Identifying Healthy and Unhealthy Personal Boundaries
- Dating Relationships
- Sextortion
High School
- Healthy vs Unhealthy Relationships
- Red Flag Behaivours
- Safe Personal Boundaries
- Stereotypes
- Sexual Abuse
- Consent
Kids in the Know is here to help:
A child accidentally come across sexually explicit content by incorrectly typing in a website address into a web browser. The 9-year-old girl is very upset and distraught (as she is not developmentally ready to manage the graphic material).
Kids in the Know lessons address subjects such as what to do if you come across content online that makes you feel uncomfortable and how to identify a safe adult in your life who you can go to for help in those times.
An offender shares sexually explicit material with a 13-year-old boy in attempt to groom him and normalize the sexual behaviour.
Kids in the Know lessons address issues such as healthy and unhealthy behaviour, the role of an adult, and the difference between respecting and breaking boundaries in order to empower children and youth with the skills and ability to recognize inappropriate behaviour.
An offender uses a variety of tactics to manipulate a 15-year-old girl. The offender begins with flattery, love, and gifts, and then progresses to threats when the teenager does not comply with his demands.
Kids in the Know lessons address such issues as common lures used by offenders, the difference between a healthy friendship/relationship and an unhealthy friendship/relationship, what to do if someone you meet online asks for personal information, and what to do if someone you meet online requests to meet up in-person.
A teenager shares an intimate image with her boyfriend. The image is then shared and distributed among peers resulting in bullying and harassment.
Kids in the Know lessons address issues such as risks with sharing personal information online, understanding high-risk behaviour, and being able to identify the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.