What Is Personal Information for Kids?
Topics covered in this article include:
What Is Personal Information for Kids?
What Are Examples of Personal Information for Kids?
Why Do Kids Need to Protect Their Personal Information Online?
Personal Information Isn't Always Obvious
What Personal Information Should Kids Never Share Online?
Is a Child's School Personal Information?
What About Photos and Videos?
What About Information Shared in Online Games?
Public vs Private Information
Teach Children to Think Before They Share
Try This Personal Information Activity With Your Child
What If My Child Has Already Shared Personal Information?
The Most Important Lesson About Personal Information
Help Your Child Build Safer Online Habits
Children share information every day.
They tell friends their name, talk about their birthday, wear their school uniform, share photos, play online games and chat about the things they love doing.
But do they know which of those things are personal information?
When adults hear the words personal information, we might immediately think of things like our address, phone number or bank details. For children, the concept isn't always so obvious.
A child might know they shouldn't tell a stranger their home address but think nothing of sharing the name of their school, posting a photo in their uniform or telling someone in an online game where they play football every Saturday.
That's why teaching children what personal information is, why it matters and how to protect it online is such an important part of digital safety.
What Is Personal Information for Kids?
A simple way to explain personal information to children is:
Personal information is information about you that can tell someone who you are, where you are or something about your life.
Some personal information can identify a child directly.
Other information might not seem particularly important on its own, but when combined with other details, it can reveal much more.
For example, knowing that a child likes football doesn't tell you very much.
But knowing their first name, age, school, football club and the suburb where they live creates a much clearer picture of who that child is.
This is one of the most important things children can learn about online privacy and personal information:
Small pieces of information can add up.
What Are Examples of Personal Information for Kids?
When teaching children about personal information, start with examples they encounter in everyday life.
Personal information can include:
Full name
Birthday and age
Home address
Phone number
Email address
School name
School uniform
Photos and videos
Current location
Suburb or neighbourhood
Sports teams and clubs
Regular activities and routines
Names of friends and family members
Usernames and gaming profiles
Some information needs even greater protection, including passwords, PINs, account login details and financial information. Children should understand that these details should never be casually shared with other people online.
The important lesson is that personal information isn't limited to information that feels secret. It can be ordinary information about a child's everyday life.
Why Do Kids Need to Protect Their Personal Information Online?
Children use technology in environments where sharing is normal.
Games ask them to create profiles. Apps encourage them to post photos. Social platforms ask what's happening. Friends send messages and strangers can sometimes join conversations.
This can make sharing information feel harmless.
The problem isn't that every piece of personal information is dangerous. It's that children can't always control who sees information, where it goes or how it might be used once it has been shared.
A photo can be saved.
A message can be forwarded.
A screenshot can be taken.
A public profile can potentially be viewed by people a child doesn't know.
Teaching children to protect their personal information isn't about making them afraid of the internet.
It's about helping them recognise when they should stop and think before they share.
Personal Information Isn't Always Obvious
One of the biggest challenges when teaching online safety for kids is helping children recognise personal information that isn't immediately obvious.
Consider a photo taken before school.
Your child isn't sharing their address, phone number or password.
But what else is visible?
Perhaps they're wearing a school uniform with a logo.
There's a street sign behind them.
Their sports bag has the name of their football club printed on it.
The caption says:
"Football training straight after school every Tuesday!"
Each individual detail may seem harmless. Together, they can reveal a child's school, approximate location, interests and routine. Encourage children to look at the whole picture, not just the information they intentionally share.
What Personal Information Should Kids Never Share Online?
There are some pieces of information children should be taught to protect particularly carefully.
Passwords and login details are an obvious example. Children should learn that passwords are private and shouldn't be shared with friends or people they meet online.
Children should also be very cautious about sharing their home address, phone number, exact location or information about where they will be at a particular time.
But rather than giving children a long list of things they're simply not allowed to share, explain why.
Instead of:
"Don't tell people where you live."
Try:
"Your home address tells someone exactly where they can find you, so that's information we protect."
Understanding the reason behind the rule helps children apply the same thinking when they encounter situations you haven't specifically discussed.
Is a Child's School Personal Information?
Yes. The school a child attends can be personal information because it reveals something about their identity and where they're likely to spend a significant part of their day.
Children can reveal their school without actually typing its name.
A school uniform, logo, badge, sporting jersey or photo taken outside the school can all potentially identify it.
This is a useful example when teaching children that personal information can appear in photos and videos as well as words.
Before posting something, encourage children to ask:
"What could someone learn about me from this?"
For more about this topic, refer to Should Children Share Their School Online?
What About Photos and Videos?
Photos and videos deserve special attention when talking about children's online privacy.
Children naturally focus on the subject of a photo.
Someone else may notice everything around them.
A photo might reveal:
A child's face
School uniform
House number
Street name
Location
Sporting club
Name badge
Certificate containing their full name
Other children
Information displayed on screens or noticeboards
A simple habit can help:
Stop. Look. Check. Share.
Before posting, stop for a moment.
Look at the whole photo or video.
Check what personal information someone might be able to see.
Then decide whether it is safe to share.
What About Information Shared in Online Games?
Personal information isn't only shared through social media.
Children may talk to other players while gaming, particularly in games with chat, voice communication or multiplayer features.
A conversation might start with something harmless:
"How old are you?"
"What school do you go to?"
"What city are you in?"
"Do you play sport?"
Children should understand that they don't have to answer personal questions just because someone asks.
They also need to know that people online may not always be who they say they are. Someone saying they're 11 doesn't necessarily mean they're 11.
Teach children that it's always okay to say no, leave a conversation, block someone or talk to a trusted adult if questions make them uncomfortable.
Public vs Private Information
Another useful concept is helping children understand the difference between information that is public and private.
Public information can potentially be seen by many people.
Private information is information we choose to protect or only share with trusted people when there's a good reason.
But there's an important lesson here:
A private account doesn't automatically make everything safe to share.
Photos can be screenshotted. Messages can be forwarded. Friends lists change. Accounts can be accessed by other people.
Privacy settings are an important tool, but they work best alongside good decisions about what children share in the first place.
Teach Children to Think Before They Share
Children don't need to memorise complicated privacy rules.
What they need is a simple way to think through decisions.
Before sharing something online, encourage your child to ask:
Does this tell someone my full name?
Does it show where I live, go to school or spend time?
Does it tell someone where I am right now?
Does it reveal something about another person?
Would I be comfortable if someone I didn't know saw this?
If I'm unsure, can I ask a trusted adult before sharing it?
These questions help children develop judgement rather than simply following rules.
And that's important because parents can't predict every situation a child will encounter online.
Try This Personal Information Activity With Your Child
One of the easiest ways to teach children about personal information is to make the conversation relevant to their own online world.
Sit together and look at one of their online profiles, gaming accounts or social media profiles, where appropriate.
Then ask:
"If someone who didn't know you looked at this, what could they learn about you?"
Look at profile pictures, usernames, bios, posts and photos.
Could someone work out their age?
Their school?
Where they live?
What sports they play?
Where they spend their weekends?
You don't need to turn it into an interrogation or immediately delete everything you find.
The exercise is about helping children start recognising personal information for themselves.
What If My Child Has Already Shared Personal Information?
Everyone makes mistakes online. If your child tells you they've shared something they shouldn't have, try to make their first experience of asking for help a positive one.
Depending on what has been shared, you might delete a post, remove information from a profile, change a password, block another user or review privacy and location settings together.
If you're concerned about what has happened, seek appropriate support. Most importantly, use the situation as an opportunity to talk about what they could do differently next time.
We want children to know they can come to a trusted adult when something happens online.
The Most Important Lesson About Personal Information
Children don't need to be afraid of sharing anything about themselves online.
They need to learn to recognise what they're sharing, who they're sharing it with and what someone could learn from it.
That's the difference between knowing how to use technology and knowing how to use it safely.
Teaching children about personal information gives them a foundation they can use across social media, gaming, messaging, apps and whatever technology comes next.
Start with one simple question:
"What could someone learn about you from what you're about to share?"
The more children practise asking that question, the more naturally they'll begin to protect their privacy.
Help Your Child Build Safer Online Habits
The Digital Safety Playbook & Staying Safe Online help children build practical digital safety skills they can use in everyday life.
Through child-friendly learning, videos, quizzes and activities, children learn how to recognise personal information, protect their privacy, understand their digital footprint, spot online risks and know what to do when something doesn't feel right.
Because the goal isn't to raise children who are afraid of the internet.
It's to raise children who know how to navigate it safely.