Tradem Parental Controls Guidelines
As a parent or guardian, you are responsible for your child’s actions on Tradem. You can set your controls to whatever you think is appropriate for each child. We know that deciding what level of control can be hard, so we have provided some guidelines.
Summary
For younger children, we recommend you select "Approve" on 'Items for Sale' and on 'Purchases', and "Notify" on local collections, to know when your child is requested to meet another child in person.
By clicking on these options, you will be asked for approval at all stages of your child’s communication with other children. If they want to sell something, you are asked first, if they want to buy something, you are asked first… if they message or receive a message from another child, you can see this too. By keeping a close eye on your child’s actions online, you can see where they are financially savvy and where they are not. You don’t want your child spending all their money without thinking or making offers on items that they don’t need or cannot afford. If a child makes a mistake, see it as a positive opportunity to talk it over with them and discuss better choices and options. Here at Tradem we are all about encouraging communication about money and finances with your children.
For older children and teens, you might want to give them a bit more independence and hold off ticking the ‘Approve’ button in all the controls. You will still be able to see all their buying, selling, messages and actions in your control hub, but you won't be asked to approve every time they do something. This means you are responsible for them but you give them a bit more of a free reign to make decisions for themselves.
We have provided more information about different age groups and proposed settings for each group to assist you below. Remember, every child is different and you are best placed to in deciding which level of control you want to have over your child’s activity.
Types of controls
- Activity feed - information shown about the child’s activity when parent logs in and clicks on child’s name.
- Monitoring of chatting - accessible through the Activity feed page
- Approvals (under Accounts) - parent is notified of intended action of the child and has to approve before the child can execute the action.
- Notifications (under Accounts) - each time the child executes a particular action, the parent receives a message.
- Settings - addresses and e-wallets of each child can be managed here.
A controlled risk approach
The best interest of the child is our guiding principle. This means that we can not eliminate 100% of all potential safety risks, as this would seriously harm the children’s privacy and their learning experience. It also means that we do not encourage or support parents or guardians following and controlling everything their child does on the marketplace. Instead we encourage active family discussion on potential problems and risks.
We follow a controlled risk approach, which involves striking a balance between the following three factors: safety, privacy and learning experience. The balance between these factors differs per age group. The younger the children, the more weight will be attached to the safety concern; the older they are, the more weight will be attached to their privacy.
In terms of the learning experience, for younger children there is a greater focus on learning skills and developing knowledge and for the older children the emphasis will be more on practicing autonomy and developing confidence.
Recommended control settings
Age 4 - 5
At this age, children start to develop the ability to ‘put themselves in others’ shoes’ but are easily fooled by appearances. They are developing friendships, although peer pressure is relatively low, and parental or family guidance or influence is key. They are learning to follow clear and simple rules but are unlikely to have the cognitive ability to understand or follow more nuanced rules or instructions, or to make anything but the simplest of decisions. They have limited capacity for self-control or the ability to manage their own time online. They are predominantly engaged in adult-guided activities, playing within ‘walled’ environments, or watching video streams.
Recommended settings:
Items for sale: select "Approve"
Items purchased: select "Approve"
Monthly spending limit: [leave blank]
Local collection notification: select ON
Deal notification: select ON
Note that, if the child accesses the service through a parent’s device and the parent and child do all interactions on the marketplace together, the parent may wish to turn off approval controls for buying and selling to make the experience more smooth and enjoyable.
Age 6 – 9
Children in this age group are likely to be absorbing messages from school about online safety and the digital environment, and be developing a basic understanding of privacy concepts and some of the more obvious online risks. They are unlikely however to have a clear understanding of the many ways in which their personal data may be used or of any less direct or obvious risks that their online behaviour may expose them to.
The need to fit in with their peer group becomes more important so they may be more susceptible to peer pressure. However home and family still tends to be the strongest influencer. They still tend to comply with clear messages or rules from home and school, but if risks aren’t explained clearly then they may fill the gap with their own explanations or come up with protective strategies that aren’t as effective as they think they are.
Recommended settings:
Items for sale: select "Approve"
Items purchased: select "Approve"
Monthly spending limit: [leave blank]
Local collection notification: select ON
Deal notification: select ON
Age 10 – 12
This is a key age range in which children’s online activity is likely to change significantly. The transition, or anticipated transition, from primary school to secondary school means they are much more likely to have their own device (predominantly smartphones).
There is also likely to be a shift towards the use of the online environment to explore and develop self-identity and relationships, expand and stay in contact with their peer group, and ‘fit in’ socially. This may lead to increased use of social networking functions or services by children within this age range, increased susceptibility to peer pressure, branding, and online ‘influencers’, and an increase in risk-taking behaviours. Self-esteem may fall as children compare themselves to others and strive to present an acceptable version of themselves online and the ‘fear of missing out’ may become a concern.
Online gaming and video and music streaming services are also popular. Children may feel pressurised into playing online games when their friends are playing, again for fear of missing out.
Attitudes towards parental rules, authority and involvement in their online activity may vary considerably, with some children relatively accepting of this and others seeking higher levels of autonomy. However parents and family still tend to be the main source of influence for children in this age range.
In this age range, they are moving towards more adult ways of thinking but may have limited capacity to think beyond immediate consequences, be particularly susceptible to reward-based systems, and tend towards impulsive behaviours. They also start developing a better understanding of how the online environment operates but are still unlikely to be aware of less obvious uses of their personal data.
Parental or other support therefore still tends to be needed, if not always desired. It may however need to be offered or encouraged in a less directive way than for younger children.
Recommended settings:
Items for sale: select "Notify"
Items purchased: select "Approve"
Monthly spending limit: [leave blank]
Local collection notification: select ON
Deal notification: select ON
Age 13 – 15
In this age range the need for identification with their peer group, and exploration of identity and relationships increases further and children are likely to seek greater levels of independence and autonomy. They may reject or distance themselves from the values of their parents or seek to actively flaunt parental or online rules. The use of new services that parents aren’t aware of or don’t use is popular as is the use of language that parents may not easily understand. However, despite this, family remains a key influence on children within this age range.
Teens of this age range may still look to parents to assist if they encounter problems online, but some may be reluctant to do so due to concerns about their parents’ reaction to their online activity.
Developmentally they may tend toward idealised or polarised thinking and be susceptible to negative comparison of themselves with others. They may overestimate their own ability to cope with risks and challenges arising from online behaviour and relationships and may benefit from signposting towards sources of support, including but not limited to parental support.
Recommended settings:
Items for sale: select "No control"
Items purchased: select "Notify"
Monthly spending limit: [Discuss this with your child]
Local collection notification: select ON
Deal notification: select OFF
Age 16 - 17
By this age, they have developed reasonably robust online skills, coping strategies, and resilience. However, they are still developing cognitively and emotionally and should not be expected to have the same resilience, experience, or appreciation of the long-term consequences of their online actions as adults may have.
Technical knowledge and capabilities may be better developed than their emotional literacy or their ability to handle complex personal relationships. Their capacity to engage in long-term thinking is still developing and they may still tend towards risk taking or impulsive behaviours and be susceptible to reward based systems.
Parental support is more likely to be viewed as one option that they may or may not wish to use, rather than as the preferred or only option, and they expect a reasonable level of autonomy. Signposting to other sources of support in addition to parental support is important.
Recommended settings:
Items for sale: select "No control"
Items purchased: select "No control"
Monthly spending limit: [Discuss this with your child]
Local collection notification: select OFF
Deal notification: select OFF