Weet-Bix Supports Internet Safety Group For Kids

With more than 200,000 New Zealand children under 17 years having access to the Internet at home1 it is vital they know how to play safe and be aware of ‘talking’ to strangers and entering pornographic sites.

To that end New Zealand’s leading breakfast cereal Weet-Bix is helping the Internet Safety Group, an organisation set up in 1998 to educate children and parents about internet safety, in its quest to educate and protect children when ‘surfing the net’.

Weet-Bix brand manager Cherie Jackson says breakfast is an important time for families to interact and with that in mind is including an information panel on pack titled ‘Playing It Safe On The Net’ to give young people and their parents Internet safety tips.

“The Internet has become an every day source of information and entertainment for people of all ages but there are few limits in place to restrict site access. This is particularly an issue for young people who may not have the life skills to determine what is right or wrong or what to do if something unsafe occurs,” she says.

“Weet-Bix applauds the work and vision of the Internet Safety Group and is proud to help spread its message to the 600,000 plus New Zealanders who eat Weet-Bix for breakfast each morning.”

Weet-Bix pack tips include warnings about on-line ‘chats’ such as sending photos and contact details to strangers and agreeing to meet people in person without parental consent as well as encouraging children to tell parents or teachers about sites that have made them feel uncomfortable.

To help parents manage their child’s use of the net, Internet Safety Group suggests making Internet use family time by putting the computer in a central room and turning off the television when the computer goes on.

The group also recommends parents negotiate usage agreements with their kids and for schools to enforce the message through an Internet agreement system with students.

For more information on Internet safety visit Internet Safety Group on www.netsafe.org.nz.

1 Research conducted by ACNeilsen in 1999.
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Released on behalf of Sanitarium Health Food Company by Porter Novelli New Zealand.
For further information please contact:

Cherie Jackson Sanitarium Health Food Company 09
Or
Bridget Reaney Porter Novelli New Zealand 09 373 3786

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