With Father’s Day looming, and keeping in mind the number of digital devices in my household, will I find myself relegated in the popularity stakes and spending most of Sunday alone?

Happily, our survey showed that kids’ time was in fact mostly spent with family (31%), while playing on the Internet was only a regular activity for 14% of the children surveyed.

And what are kids doing when they are online? Mostly playing games on their own (70%) or watching funny things (second most popular choice at 46%).

While many children are spending time alone online, our survey revealed mixed attitudes to the Internet. What that tells me is that doing things online with mom and dad is actually incredibly important. These children do need to understand the online environment, the good and the bad and to know who to go to if they come across something inappropriate.

Many of the kids (85%) knew there were things they were not supposed to look at online. Anecdotal responses included tips like only going to the websites their parents allowed, only going online with a family member or at home, not giving out address, school or even fully name online. Guidance like ‘be nice/kind/good’ was also regularly referenced in responses. Despite this guidance, the children surveyed had mixed perceptions of the Internet - 35% thought the Internet is dangerous, 36% said it isn’t – and 29% didn’t know.

And their reaction to being told it was time to stop playing on the Internet was interesting too. Some children were happy to play with something else or go outside. But quite a proportion shared that it made them feel ‘mad’, ‘sad’ and ‘frustrated’, especially if they were in the middle of doing something particular when they were told to stop.

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To my mind, this illustrates the huge importance of parents being an ongoing part of a child’s developing understanding of the online world; of being able to discuss its etiquette, benefits, and potential risks as they go along. As our children go online at an earlier and earlier age, that conversation has to happen at an earlier age, even if at a simpler level. We’ve launched a new series of interactive books, called Magda & Mo, to help parents with young children start to have that conversation in an engaging and informative way.

My son is a bit older than the surveyed age group, so our conversations about the Internet are further forward. But what I have learned from the results of the survey is that this conversation should never stop, no matter what age your child is. They may be the digital natives of our time but that makes them even more in need of our guidance and context around why ‘being kind’ online matters, and what to do if they come across something inappropriate.

So on Sunday, if the digital devices come out, I’ve got a choice to make. I can remove them for the day and insist on quality family time doing something rugged outdoors. Or on the basis that these are a part of our everyday lives, even on such an important day as Father’s Day, I can find fun things that we can do together, safely, on the Internet. I know what my decision is going to be – and we’re even going to have a conversation about it.

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