Protecting Children Online: A Guide for Grandparents

Why Grandparents Matter for Online Safety

Grandparents often spend significant amounts of time with their grandchildren: during school holidays, after school, at weekends, and during stays away from home. During this time, children use devices. They may use devices that belong to grandparents, or their own devices, and the online safety conversations that happen in these contexts matter.

You do not need to be a technology expert to contribute positively to your grandchildren's online safety. You need a basic understanding of where children spend their time online, what the key risks are, how to have conversations that keep children talking to you, and what to do if something concerning comes to light. This guide provides that foundation.

Where Children Spend Their Time Online

Children and teenagers primarily use the internet for three broad purposes: entertainment (videos, streaming, gaming), social connection (messaging, social media, gaming chat), and information (homework, searching). The platforms vary by age.

Younger children (under ten) typically use YouTube, YouTube Kids, educational apps, and games like Roblox and Minecraft. Tweens (ten to thirteen) often start using TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, along with more competitive online games. Teenagers use the full range of social media platforms, gaming, streaming, and increasingly private messaging apps.

Most social media platforms have a minimum age of thirteen. Many children join before this age. Platforms designed for all ages (including YouTube and gaming platforms) may expose children to content and contact that is not appropriate for them. This is worth knowing not to alarm you but so you understand the landscape your grandchildren are navigating.

The Key Risks: What to Know

The most significant risks for children online fall into three categories: contact, content, and conduct.

Contact risks involve children being contacted by people with harmful intentions: grooming (where an adult builds a relationship with a child to eventually exploit them), cyberbullying (where peers use digital channels to bully), and exposure to inappropriate relationships or communities.

Content risks involve children encountering material that is harmful: violent content, sexual content, extremist content, or content promoting harmful activities like self-harm, disordered eating, or substance use. The algorithms on many platforms serve increasingly extreme content as users engage with related material.

Conduct risks involve children's own behaviour online: sharing personal information that creates safety risks, sharing images of themselves or others, participating in cyberbullying, or engaging with potentially harmful challenges or trends.

Practical Safety When Grandchildren Visit

If grandchildren use the internet at your home, it is reasonable to establish simple household rules that you maintain with their parents. These might include: devices are used in shared spaces rather than bedrooms, you can see what they are watching or playing if you come over, and they can tell you if anything online makes them feel uncomfortable.

If you have your own wifi, consider activating the parental controls that most broadband providers offer: these filter obviously harmful content categories for any device on your network. Contact your provider's customer service and ask about their family filtering options. Sky, BT, Virgin Media, and other major providers all offer this.

If grandchildren want to use your devices (tablet, smartphone, computer), it is entirely reasonable to accompany this with supervision, particularly for younger children. Sitting together while they watch videos or play games is not intrusive: it is normal, engaged grandparenting and it allows you to be part of the experience rather than simply managing it from a distance.

Having Conversations That Children Will Engage With

The approach that tends to produce the most open conversation is curiosity rather than concern. Asking what they are playing, what they enjoy watching, who their favourite creators are, and what is happening in games shows genuine interest and builds trust. From this conversational foundation, questions like whether they have ever seen anything online that was weird or upsetting feel natural rather than interrogative.

Avoid reactions to mentions of platforms or activities that immediately communicate alarm or disapproval: children quickly learn not to mention things that produce that reaction. If they mention something that concerns you, stay calm, ask more questions, and thank them for telling you before deciding how to respond.

Some phrases that open conversation: "What have you been playing lately? Can you show me?" and "What do your friends all watch?" and simply "I don't really understand how that works, can you explain it to me?" Children often love explaining technology to adults and will talk much more openly in that teaching role.

What to Do If Something Concerns You

If a child tells you something concerning about their online experience, or if you see something on their device that worries you: listen calmly without immediately taking action. Thank them for telling you. Say you want to make sure they are safe and that you are going to let their parents know. Do not promise to keep it secret if it is something that needs to be addressed.

If the concern involves possible grooming or someone contacting the child in an inappropriate way, the NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) can advise on next steps. Their Child Exploitation and Online Protection command (CEOP) at ceop.police.uk is specifically for reporting concerns about online grooming.

You do not need to have all the answers to play an important role in a child's online safety. Being someone they feel they can tell things to, without fear of overreaction, is one of the most valuable things a trusted grandparent can be.