The Kid's Code
The child agrees not to keep secrets for strangers, to stop when asked for silence, pictures, or another app, to screenshot rather than delete, and to tell a trusted adult the same day.
Field Manual No. 3
The Family Pact
A practical family agreement for protecting children from dangerous online contact.
Inside the Manual
A promise that makes telling safer
The Family Pact is a short, printable agreement for children and adults. Its central promise is that no adult or older stranger online gets to become a secret, and that a child will not be punished for telling an adult about a mistake or a dangerous request.
The manual pairs the child's code with a parent's pledge, then gives a one-time thirty-minute lockdown: private accounts, stranger-contact limits, kitchen charging, known passcodes, and location sharing turned off on public apps and photos.
If a child reports dangerous contact, the manual says not to confront or reply to the stranger, not to delete evidence, and to involve CyberTipline and local law enforcement.
The core approach
Build trust, reduce access, preserve evidence
The Parent's Pledge
The adult promises amnesty: listening first, not taking the phone for reporting, and handling the rest as the adult's job.
The Thirty-Minute Lockdown
Make accounts private, limit direct messages and game chat, charge devices in the kitchen, know the passcodes, and turn off public location sharing.
The pact in practice
What You'll Find Inside
- Five child commitments: no secrets, stop at the signal, screenshot, tell an adult, and know that telling will not bring punishment.
- Five adult commitments: no trouble for reporting, no phone confiscation for disclosure, calm listening, and adult responsibility for the response.
- Account settings: private accounts, stranger requests off, direct-message limits, friends-only game chat, kitchen charging, known passcodes, and public location sharing off.
- Warning signs: an older online friend nobody has met, unexplained gifts or game money, screens that flip, secrecy about an app, withdrawal, or multiple accounts.
- Response order: do not reply or delete, screenshot names and messages, report to report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678, then call local police.
- Signed agreement: space for the child, parent or guardian, date, and Action Army ID.
Use it as a printable field guide
Read it aloud and sign it together
Print the pact and read each line aloud with the child. Complete the setting checklist once, then keep the signed agreement somewhere the family can revisit it. The goal is not a one-time inspection; it is a shared rule that makes disclosure safer.
Keep the reporting steps with the pact. If something is found, preserve evidence and let trained professionals take over rather than asking the child to investigate or negotiate.
Free printable resource
Get the Printable Field Manual
Register with your name and email to access the complete PDF through the existing Action Army membership registration system.