Parenting News: Tech Savvy Children Secretly Know Parents’ Passwords
We’ve all heard the stories of children running up massive bills on their parents’ account through games on their tablet and laptops, and now we know why.
Eight in ten children admit to knowing their parents passwords, as despite their parents changing them regularly, children have come up with sneaky ways to find them out.
Ten per cent of kids said their parents will change their password regularly but 18 per cent of kids said they would often sneak a look over their shoulder so that they can still gain access.
For those kids who couldn’t sneak a look, 12 per cent said they would continually guess at the password, and 18 per cent of those have ended up in trouble for locking the account due to too many incorrect tries.
A quarter of children will rack up £33.23 in bills from using their parents account and only 6 per cent said the costs were unintentional.
Surprisingly, children as young as six are sat indoors playing on their parents’ gadgets rather than enjoying the outdoors lifestyle.
Claire Perry, MP for the Devizes Constituency and campaigner for online child safety, said, “This survey certainly raises worries about how little parents may be aware of their child’s activity online.
“Keeping our personal information safe is a key lesson for children and adults alike.
“The recent explosion of technology means it can be very difficult to manage as a parent but we all have a responsibility to ensure children are safe and responsible online and parents need to play a big part in that.”
So what are our children looking at when they are surfing the net? Children said they are most likely to visit Youtube, followed by gaming sites and social networking sites.
Incredibly, 45 per cent of children won’t need to hack their parents’ technology as they have their own computer and have done since they were eight!
For those who rely on mum and dad, a third said they know that their parents let them play on their gadgets to keep them out of trouble.
Despite parents often letting their child use it for homework, 30 per cent of kids said they have lied to their parents about completing their homework and surfed the net instead.
The average child will spend six hours and 21 minutes per week on the web, with 58 per cent saying their parents often nag them about how much time they spend on it.
A spokesman for Virtual Piggy, who commissioned the research, said, “British children are extremely technologically savvy. It won’t take a typical six or seven year old long to work out a password to a tablet, phone or PC, so parents need to be vigilant.
“If an adult has accounts set up on certain shopping sites kids can easily log-on and purchase items with literally one click, so if parents want to ensure they are not footing the bill for their kids purchases they need to take precautions.
“On the one hand it’s great that youngsters are so at one with the latest gadgets but they do need to be used responsibly and parents must play a part in that.
“Technology is such a big part of modern family life that it is bound to cause rows every now and then.
“Our advice would be to keep a close on what your child is doing online and what sites they are visiting, changing your password regularly is also a good idea.
“With regard to incurring costs online, our new child friendly payment system allows kids to have their own account where they can spend any pocket money or birthday money safely and helps them budget their own pot of cash.”
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