Internet Safety for Summer Break

With kids starting their summer breaks, June is a great opportunity for parents and guardians to assess and improve their family’s internet safety habits. Here are a few resources they can use to get started:

· Interact! Online Safety Courses: A set of interactive online courses created for parents and guardians to complete with their children. Each course takes 15-45 minutes, and they are a great starting point to spark online safety discussions at home and review family technology use. Developed by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) and Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Access them for free by searching for “Interact!” on the Wisconsin DOJ website: wisdoj.gov.

o For more content on child safety from the Wisconsin DOJ, parents can listen to the Protect Kids Online (PKO) Podcast, also found on DOJ’s website.

· Youville: This is a resource toolkit published by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) intended for use by kids ages 8-12. Youville is free, standards-based, and contains activities to help kids learn how to safely navigate the online world in a way that is engaging and fun. Find it along with other informational resources about children’s online safety and security at consumer.ftc.gov.

· NetSmartz: An educational program from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that provides age-appropriate videos and activities that can teach children how they can be safe online when gaming, using social media, or communicating on smartphones and other devices. Access the website at missingkids.org/NetSmartz.

· Learn about the TAKE IT DOWN Act. In May 2026, the FTC began enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act. This law requires platforms to remove intimate photos or videos shared online without victims’ consent. At TakeItDown.ftc.gov, victims and survivors can submit complaints if an online platform has failed to act on valid requests to remove nonconsensual intimate content. The crime can be reported to law enforcement at CyberTipLine.com. This is a resource that no parent wants to have to use, but which all parents and children are protected by.