7 cyber safety tips for mums with a young family

Home & Business Internet Blog | MATE | 22 June 2026

TL;DR — Quick Takeaways

• The eSafety Commissioner’s free parent resources are the best place to start – updated for 2026.
• Social media platforms must now prevent under-16s from creating accounts (in effect since December 2025).
• Most online risks come from two things: contact with strangers and oversharing personal information.
• Parental controls help, but conversation beats software every time.
• If something goes wrong, the eSafety Commissioner can help you get content removed.
• A family agreement on device rules is more effective than a curfew app.

Why Cyber Safety Still Matters (and Why It’s Changed)

When the original version of this post was written back in 2018, kids were mostly using the family computer in the lounge room. These days, the average Australian child gets their first smartphone around age 10 and many are on tablets long before that.

The basics of keeping kids safe online haven’t changed. But the landscape has. Gaming platforms have become social networks. Group chats are where bullying happens. AI tools can generate fake images in seconds. And the line between “screen time” and “doing homework” is blurry.

The good news: Australia has some of the strongest online safety protections in the world, and the eSafety Commissioner’s free resources are genuinely useful. Here’s a practical rundown.

1. Start With a Family Agreement, Not Just Rules

Rules you set unilaterally tend to get broken or worked around. A family agreement (one you write together) works better because kids feel ownership over it.

The eSafety Commissioner has a free Family Tech Agreement template you can download, print, and customise. It covers things like which devices can be used in bedrooms, what happens at mealtimes, and what to do if something upsetting happens online.

A signed agreement on the fridge sounds corny. In practice, it removes a lot of arguments because there’s nothing to negotiate, you all agreed upfront.

2. Know What Your Kids Are Actually Using

Most parents know about YouTube and TikTok. Fewer know about Discord, Roblox’s in-game chat, BeReal, or the dozen platforms their kids have discovered in the last six months.

The eSafety Guide is a searchable database of apps, games, and social platforms with plain-English explanations of each platform’s risks, privacy settings, and age restrictions. It’s updated regularly and worth bookmarking.

Don’t assume you need to ban every unfamiliar app. Understanding what it is (and what the risks actually are) lets you have a much more useful conversation with your kid about it.

3. Understand the Under-16 Social Media Law

From 10 December 2025, social media platforms operating in Australia were required to take reasonable steps to prevent children under 16 from creating or keeping accounts. This includes major platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube’s social features.

This doesn’t mean the internet is automatically safe for under-16s, it means those specific services have legal obligations now. Kids will still find ways to access platforms, and plenty of online risk exists outside social media. The law is a floor, not a ceiling.

The eSafety Commissioner has guidance specifically for parents on what the age restrictions mean, how platforms are expected to comply, and what to do if your child’s account isn’t removed.

4. Teach Them What Personal Information Actually Means

Most kids understand they shouldn’t give a stranger their home address. Fewer realise that their school name, suburb, sports team, and first name combined is enough for someone to find them.

Go through this list with your child and talk about which ones they share online — and where:

• Full name
• School or suburb
• Phone number
• Photos with location tags
• Daily routines (“at footy training every Saturday at Centennial Park”)
• Usernames they use across multiple platforms

The goal isn’t to make them paranoid. It’s to make them thoughtful. There’s a difference between sharing a photo of their lunch and sharing a photo that shows their school uniform and street sign in the background.

5. Set Up Parental Controls, But Don’t Rely on Them

Parental controls are useful, especially for younger children. They’re not foolproof, and a motivated teenager will usually find a workaround. But for primary school-aged kids, they add a real layer of protection.

Built-in options worth knowing about:

• Apple Screen Time — set daily limits, downtime hours, and content restrictions by age rating. Access via Settings > Screen Time.
• Google Family Link — manage Android devices, approve app downloads, and see location. Works well for kids who don’t yet have their own Google account.
• Router-level filtering — some routers (and some NBN providers) let you set content filters at the network level, so they apply to every device in the house automatically.
• SafeSearch — turn it on in Google and YouTube for an extra layer of content filtering.

None of these replace conversation. But combined with an open relationship where your kid knows they can come to you if something goes wrong, they’re a useful backup.

6. Talk About Screen Time, Don’t Just Limit It

The research on screen time is more nuanced than “less is better.” What matters is the type of screen time (passive watching vs. creative or social), the time of day (before bed is worse than after school), and whether it’s replacing sleep or physical activity.

Rather than fighting over minutes, it’s more useful to ask:

• What are you watching/playing/doing?
• Who are you talking to?
• Is this making you feel good or bad afterward?

The eSafety Commissioner has a free download called Navigating Screen Time: Tools for Today’s Families which breaks down practical approaches by age. Worth reading if you’re trying to set household rules that actually stick.

7. Teach “Stop, Block, Tell” and Mean It

If your child encounters something upsetting or inappropriate online, the three steps are:

1. Stop — don’t respond, don’t share, don’t engage.
2. Block — use the platform’s block or mute function to cut off contact.
3. Tell — come to you, a teacher, or another trusted adult.

The “tell” part only works if you’ve made it safe to tell. That means not reacting with anger or immediately confiscating devices when they bring you a problem. If the first time they came to you, you took their phone away for a week, they won’t come to you next time.

Cyberbullying is treated the same as in-person bullying by most Australian schools. If it’s happening through school networks or between school students, the school has an obligation to respond.

8. Know What to Do If Something Goes Wrong

If your child has been bullied online, received unwanted contact from an adult, or been exposed to harmful content, you have real options:

• Report to the platform — every major platform has a reporting function. Screenshot evidence first.
• Report to the eSafety Commissioner — at esafety.gov.au/report. The Commissioner has legal powers to require platforms to remove harmful content.
• Contact the school — if it involves another student.
• Contact police — for serious threats, grooming, or any contact that’s criminal in nature. You can also report to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE).

Don’t delete anything before you’ve screenshotted it. Evidence disappears fast when accounts are blocked or deleted.

9. Watch Out for Links, Downloads, and “Too Good to Be True” Offers

Kids are actually pretty good at spotting obvious scams. What they’re less good at is spotting phishing links that look like a Roblox free currency offer, or a “you’ve won a prize” pop-up that installs malware.

A few simple rules help:

• Never click a link in a DM or email from someone you don’t know.
• If a website asks you to download something to get something free, close it.
• If something looks too good to be true (free V-Bucks, free Robux, free game codes), it is.
• Check URLs before clicking — a site can look exactly like a real one but have a slightly different address (like “roblox-free.com” instead of “roblox.com”).

This applies to adults too, obviously. But kids encounter these tricks more often because they’re more likely to be chasing in-game currency or exclusive content.

10. Keep the Conversation Going

One talk about internet safety when they get their first device isn’t enough. The platforms change, the risks evolve, and your child’s level of independence online will increase as they get older.

Aim for a regular, low-pressure check-in — not an interrogation, just curiosity. “Anything weird happen online lately?” is a better opener than “Let me see your phone.”

The eSafety Commissioner runs free webinars for parents throughout the year covering the latest risks and how to talk about them with your kids at different ages. They’re genuinely worth an hour of your time.

Free eSafety Resources Worth Bookmarking

A Good Internet Connection Helps Too

None of this works well on a patchy connection — especially if you’re relying on router-level controls or trying to keep kids on family devices rather than mobile data. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your home internet, MATE’s NBN plans start from a fair price with no lock-in contracts and Australian-based support. Just saying.

And if your kids are on mobile, MATE’s mobile plans use the Telstra Wholesale Mobile Network — coverage reaches more than 98.8% of the Australian population.

Frequently Asked Questions