Keeping Your Children Safe Online
With the way the world is today, parents have to be extra vigilant to make sure their kids stay safe. You have to watch what they are doing, where they are going, and even who they choose to spend their time with to make sure that they don’t get into trouble. But one of the most dangerous places that your children can be in is actually inside your house, that is, if you have a computer with internet access. Children are too young to know what is right or wrong, and exposure to negative content on the internet may result in all kinds of mental and emotional problems. So, how do you keep them safe?
- Stay involved with what your kids are doing online, especially if they are very young. Only allow them to join activities that you can take part in, so that you will be able to monitor them as you go through the activities with them. If they need to do research on the internet, you should help them out so that they will not be left unattended.
- Make sure that your kids know that you are watching them when they are surfing the internet. Kids will not do things that they are not supposed to do if they know that they are being watched by their parents or guardians. Let your children know that even if you are not watching over their shoulders all the time, you will check on them once in a while.
- Buy a program that lets you monitor them. There are many programs that are designed to monitor all the activities that are done on a computer, and they will send reports that let you know which websites your children have visited, how much time they spend there, and who they have chatted with.
- Get to know the websites that your children visit regularly. Some sites like MySpace and Facebook are designed to be visited daily, and because they are social networking sites, your kids can be exposed to people that they should not be meeting with. Other than finding out about the sites that your children are visiting, you should also check out their policies to see if they have any age requirements.
- Keep your computer in an open room where the entire family can have access to. This will allow you to keep an eye on what your children are doing, and it will make them more hesitant to look up things that they shouldn’t. It also makes it easier for them to get your advice if they are not sure about something.
- Implement parental controls. Some internet browsers allow parents to blacklist websites that contain certain keywords or phrases. This will help prevent your kids from being exposed to materials that are too mature for them.
- Make sure that your children know that they should never disclose personal information. Explain to them that if someone asks for their full name, their address, their age, or their phone number, they should seek your advice immediately.
- Do not ever allow them to enter chat rooms. Let them know that chat rooms are absolutely against the rules, because those are the places where they may meet dangerous people.
- Also, tell them not to sign up for anything. Many kids become victims of identity theft because they think they are signing up for something cool, but they may just end up having their personal information stolen.
- Most importantly, let your children know what they should not do on the internet. Explain to them why they need to be careful about which websites they visit or who they talk to. Let them know that there are things that they are too young to see, and they should talk to you if they see things that they don’t understand.
Here is a list of links with more information about keeping kids safe on the internet.
- Internet Safety Tips: Internet safety tips from the New Jersey State Police.
- Keeping Children Safe Online: This page provides information on the risks that children are exposed to when they surf the internet, as well as safety tips for parents.
- FBI's Tips For Internet Safety: This page offers a parent’s guide to safety on the internet.
- More Great Tips: A list of great tips to keep your children safe on the internet
- Internet Safety For Kids: Internet safety tips from the Police Notebook of the University of Oklahoma Department of Public Safety
- Internet Safety Tips By Age: Internet survival guide for parents, with tips for specific age groups
Most kids today have access to high speed internet, and this opens up a wonderful world of information for them. But they should also know how to keep themselves safe in that world. As a parent, you have the responsibility to teach your kids to avoid places on the internet that may contain harmful materials, so that they will have a truly great online learning experience.
