I highly recommend Kidpower [0] as a resource for how to have these kinds of conversations - they're really good at making things really specific and understand

I highly recommend Kidpower [0] as a resource for how to have these kinds of conversations - they're really good at making things really specific and understandable for kids without going into details that are not age-appropriate. They also have good advice for how to teach and equip kids to be independent while maintaining appropriate safety boundaries at each stage along the way to full independence. [1] Discussion and trust are important but I think there is a phase where kids do not yet have the maturity for discussion and trust to be enough to keep them safe. In the meantime, they also need supervision and physical boundaries to be safe. As an analogy, no amount of verbal instruction will allow a toddler to walk safely by themselves near traffic. Until they reach a certain maturity level, children need an adult who is paying attention and is ready to physically intervene if they start heading for the street. I think there's a similar dynamic at play when it comes to internet safety. We need to teach our kids so that they will be ready for independence but we also need to recognize that they will not be ready for full independence for quite a while, given the complexity of the risks involved. [0] https://www.kidpower.org/library/article/online-safety-for-young-people/ https://www.kidpower.org/library/article/online-safety-for-y... [1] https://www.kidpower.org/library/article/preparing-independence/ https://www.kidpower.org/library/article/preparing-independe...