Making a Camp Internet Safety Video

photo by Roderick Cooney, www.thecampphotographer.com

By Sarah Kurtz McKinnon

I was so impressed to see that the amazing Natalie Roberts-Day from YMCA Camp Kitaki and Allison Klee from Camp Stomping Ground combined forces this week to produce a simple and clear internet safety video for kids. Both Nat and Klee’s camps are running some virtual camp programming/engagement, and they came to recognize that blending camp and the internet presented some new challenges.

They wrote this simple script and filmed the video using Zoom. They also added closed-captions. Campers who engage with virtual camp programming are asked to watch this video before beginning. I would love to see more camps create videos like this to help keep our campers safe online. Before starting an online camp program, speak with your camp’s lawyers and insurers to see what they recommend. They may agree that creating a video like this as part of your virtual camp curriculum will help keep kids safe during this time when they are spending extra hours online—and into the future.

If you’re interested in creating a video of your own, Nat and Klee have generously shared their script with us. It would be easy to adapt to meet your camp’s needs:

Kitaki & SG Video Draft - Internet Safety for Kids

Written by Natalie Roberts-Day and Allison Klee

Introduction: 
Klee: Hey everybody! Klee here, and I’m the camp director at Camp Stomping Ground located in Saratoga Springs NY. With everything going on right now in the world and the increased use of the internet to connect with our friends and family during this strange time, we wanted to partner with YMCA Camp Kitaki to talk about some internet safety tips. I’ll throw it over to Nat, Camp Kitaki’s associate executive and part of her YMCA’s Child Abuse Prevention Task Force who will help me talk through these tips. 

Nat: Hey friends! It’s me, Nat, associate executive director at YMCA Camp Kitaki and member of the Lincoln YMCA’s Child Abuse Prevention Task Force. With the increased use of the internet to connect during this strange time, we wanted to partner with our friends at Stomping Ground to talk about some internet safety tips for kids. Today I will be discussing these tips with Klee, Stomping Ground’s camp director. 

Zoom Call: 

Nat: Hi Klee! 

Klee: Hi Nat! Good to see you! 

Nat: Good to see you too. Ready to talk internet safety tips? 

Klee: Yes let’s do it. 

Nat: Our first tip is that camp staff should contact you only through camp, and you can contact them back through camp. When interacting with camp staff and other campers, you should only use official channels given to you by camp, like a Zoom link for a specific time.. Oh, and good organizations are following the rule of 3, even online.

Klee: Nat, will you remind us what the rule of 3 is? 

Nat: Yes! Rule of 3 means that you shouldn’t be alone with another person online through a camp channel, there should always be at least 3 people present online with you. And this goes for messages, too. When you DM one of our camp’s Instagram or Facebook pages, multiple staff have eyes on that account so we are following the rule of three even then. 

Klee: Got it. Our second tip is that if someone is sharing something with you and you aren’t sure if it’s okay, or if they're trying to contact you outside of camp’s official channels, tell your trusted adult right away. You are not doing anything wrong by telling and you won’t get in trouble. 

Nat: And a trusted adult could be your parent or caregiver, or someone else?

Klee: Yes. It could also be someone like your camp director. We are here to help you feel great about interacting online. 

Nat: Great. Our third tip is that there shouldn’t be any secrets between you and the person you’re interacting with online. 

Klee: Nat, how can you tell if a message or a person is good, or if it is tricky?

Nat: Good messages are ones your caregivers would be excited to see/hear about it, and the person sharing it would want your caregivers to see/hear about it. 

Klee: Got it. And what if you’re planning a surprise with someone online? Is that different from a secret?

Nat: Secrets and surprises are different. Surprises are things like “We are planning a dance routine and we don’t want to show our parents until it is done! They are going to love it.” Surprises feel good to keep and you know you are going to share them eventually. A secret isn’t ever meant to be shared, and might not feel good to keep. Nobody from camp should ever ask you to keep a secret. 

Klee: That makes sense. So one more time, our three internet safety tips are: Use official channels only, talk to your trusted adult if something doesn’t feel right, and no secrets. 

Nat: That’s right. And if you’re watching this and have any more questions about internet safety, feel free to reach out to me or Klee! 

Klee: Thanks, Nat! We’ll talk soon! 

Both: Bye! 

*Contact info and camp logos appear on screen*