Online safety for children: what to set up, what to teach, and where to report

Home & Lifestyle · theAsianparent · Updated 14 August 2026

Filters are the smallest part of online safety. The thing that protects a child most is knowing they can tell you anything without being punished for it.

The setup

Devices in shared spaces rather than bedrooms, especially for younger children, and phones charging outside bedrooms overnight for everyone including adults.

Turn on the built-in family controls on the phone or tablet (screen time limits, app approval, content restrictions), enable restricted mode on video platforms, use a child profile where available, and turn off in-app purchases and remove saved cards.

Set privacy settings on any account a child uses: accounts private, location sharing off, comments limited, and personal information — school, address, phone number — out of profiles entirely.

Know the accounts your child has. For under-13s, most major platforms do not permit accounts at all; for teenagers, agree openly which platforms are in use rather than discovering them later.

What to teach, by age

Under 8: only use apps a parent has approved; never click on ads or pop-ups; tell an adult if anything on the screen is scary or strange; and never share a name, address, school or photograph.

8-12: people online are not always who they say they are; never accept friend requests from strangers; never share photos, especially of yourself; anything posted can be screenshotted and kept forever; and passwords are private except from parents.

13+: the specifics — sexting and the law (creating or sharing sexual images of anyone under 18 is a serious criminal offence in India, including images of yourself), scams and fake job or prize offers, gaming and betting apps, deepfakes, and how quickly an image spreads once sent.

At every age, the sentence that matters most: 'if something goes wrong online, tell me — you will not be in trouble for telling me.' Fear of the parents' reaction is the main reason Indian children do not report online exploitation, and it is the one thing entirely in your control.

Warning signs, and what to do

Signs worth acting on: becoming secretive about a device, switching screens when you approach, distress after being online, withdrawal, new gifts or money, contact with someone much older, new accounts you do not know about, or a sudden change in sleep and mood.

Grooming pattern: an adult or older person who befriends a child online, gives lots of attention and gifts, moves the conversation to a private app, asks for secrecy, gradually introduces sexual content, and asks for photographs. It rarely begins with anything alarming, which is why the secrecy rule matters more than the stranger rule.

If something has happened: stay calm, do not blame the child, keep evidence (screenshots, usernames, links), block and report on the platform, and report to the authorities. Do not confront the person directly or delete the account before preserving evidence.

Where to report in India: cybercrime.gov.in (which has a dedicated section for reporting child sexual abuse material and online exploitation, including anonymously), the national cybercrime helpline 1930 for financial fraud, Childline 1098, and the local police, who are required to act under the POCSO and IT Acts.

The parent's own habits

Sharenting: think before posting your child's photographs publicly — school uniforms, locations, bathing photos and full names create a digital footprint the child never consented to. Lock down your own privacy settings, and ask relatives not to repost.

Model the behaviour: a parent scrolling constantly cannot enforce screen rules, and a household where adults are on phones at meals will not have children who are not.

Stay curious rather than suspicious. Ask what games they play, watch some of it with them, let them teach you. A parent who understands the platform is far more useful than one who bans it.

Update the rules as they age — controls that suit a nine-year-old will be circumvented by a fourteen-year-old, and the transition from control to conversation should be deliberate rather than a surrender.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Are parental control apps worth installing? — For younger children, yes — content filters and time limits do real work. For teenagers, heavy surveillance tends to produce better hiding and damaged trust; agree limits openly instead, and use controls you have told them about.

Q: My child is being cyberbullied by classmates. What should I do? — Screenshot everything, do not reply, block, tell the school in writing and ask for a documented response, and report to cybercrime.gov.in if there are threats or sexual content. Reassure your child that reporting is not weakness and the bullying is not their fault.

Q: Someone is asking my teenager for photos. — Preserve the evidence, block, and report at cybercrime.gov.in or via 1098. Do not delete the account or the messages before reporting. Tell your child clearly that they are not in trouble — that reassurance is what keeps them talking to you.

Q: What age should a child get social media? — Most platforms require 13 as a minimum, and later is generally easier. Whatever age you choose, set it up together, keep accounts private, and agree that you will look at it periodically at first — a stated arrangement rather than a discovered inspection.

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Reviewed by

Nakul Phatak — CEO, theAsianparent India & Indonesia
Head of theAsianparent India; father of one
Roshni Chugani — Head of Marketing, theAsianparent India & Singapore
12 years in the mother-and-baby space; mother of two

Published by: theAsianparent editorial team