Distributing printed resources to parents during lockdown

During the lockdown, the Dutch Safer Internet Centre was asked to cooperate on a special resource package for children and families with the Bureau Jeugd en Media, experts on digital education, and the designers of Be Internet Awesome at Google, which was produced in print format.

Date 2021-02-22 Author Dutch Safer Internet Centre Section awareness Audience parents and carers
Two young women talking and looking at a laptop

During a brainstorm, the team realised how children and their parents spent much more time behind the screen. As a response to that, the Dutch Safer Internet Centre decided to offer a physical resource package that could be sent to parents, schools and other institutions for free. The main goal of the package was to offer materials that would make it easier to talk about family rules about the online world. These rules apply not only for children and young people, but also for the parents who are working from home and might have less time to monitor their children’s activities online. 

This package includes a set of cards with activities for the whole family and useful tips. It also includes home appointments to use the internet safely and with confidence. This way children and their parents were encouraged to discuss online habits that are often difficult to speak of. 

The package was requested often, especially by schools who divided the packages among parents. The Safer Internet Centre received many questions on whether this will be done again in the future. Because the response was so positive, the Safer Internet Centre is planning to use this sort of format more often during the pandemic. 

With actual lesson materials, it proved more practical to use online platforms because that way you can adapt these materials more easily. But materials such as card games, family appointment sheets work very well when sent to people physically instead of being offered online as a tool you could print. The Dutch Safer Internet Centre will look further into this next year, depending on how the pandemic develops. 

Find out more about the work of the Dutch Safer Internet Centre, including their awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services – or find similar information for Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.

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