Parents/Guardians

Let's talk about Roblox...

Roblox is a gaming platform where players can create and publish their own games. The platform can be a great educational tool to help teach children new skills like coding. However, there are also some risks like any online game.

We've supported so many local kids in Crewe that have been in tricky situations because of games like this, so it's a pretty important topic to be in the know about!

Roblox allows players to build and publish their own games. This means that other users could build games that contain adult or inappropriate themes that your child might see, this is a perspective that you may not have thought of before.

Anyone can send you a friend request on Roblox. Anyone could be sitting behind that screen pretending to be a child. (Find out below how to change the friend request settings!)

Players can use the communication features of Roblox to talk to one other while they are playing. This means that there is a risk of cyberbullying or unwanted contact.

Cyberbullying is a tricky situation to escape from for children, as messages can remain on devices, and these messages and images can be sent around out of their control. This can be very upsetting and scary for a child who's too young to process this situation.

We always teach the kids at schools in Crewe three rules for Cyberbullying -

🚩 Flag it (Raise it to the attention of an adult to help you.)
🤐 Zip it (Don't tell anyone your personal information including passwords, your school name, home address or real name etc.)
👋 Block it (If someone is causing you upset or giving you any unwanted contact, block them.)

So after all of that, you're probably wondering what you can do to make the game safer for your loved one! ⤵️

🎮 Sign up with the correct age
Make sure your child creates an account using the correct age. On Roblox, certain safety settings and parental controls are enabled by default for children under 13. However, you should still review the settings to ensure they’ve been set up correctly.

🎮 Build a list of age-appropriate games.
Not all games on Roblox will be appropriate for your child. The platform has a setting that lets parents and carers limit what their child can play by allowing them to build lists of age-appropriate games. You can also switch off in-app spending or set them monthly limits.

🎮 Explore communication settings.
You can manage who your child can speak to by disabling chat completely or limiting it to friends only. You can also switch off their inbox to stop them receiving direct messages.

🎮 Explore the platform together.

🗣️ Ask your child to give you a demonstration of the platform to help you understand how they use it and explore some of the parental controls together. You could even consider setting up your own account and playing the games yourself.

💬 Have regular conversations about gaming.
Continue to have regular conversations with them about what they are doing online. Ask your child open questions like ‘What games have you been playing on Roblox recently?’ or ‘What platforms have you been using to play games?’.

For more tips on keeping your child safe online feel free to have a Sunday morning read - https://orlo.uk/pbVoL

Finally, as I finish every online safety session at schools, "the internet can be an amazing and inspiring place to visit, as long as we know how to use it safely."

Stay safe,

PCSO Lizzie Jolley 22582