Internet Safety Tips for Kids

More than 1 billion people are on-line today! So here is the question: Would you allow your child to roam around a city of 1 billion people unsupervised? Of course not, however if your child has unrestricted and unmonitored access to the Internet, guess what? That is exactly what is happening!

At any given moment, there are an estimated 50,000 predators on-line looking for potential victims. One in five teens has reported that they have been sexually solicited while online. Computers are not baby-sitters and nothing can replace a parent’s supervision and active participation when it comes to keeping children safe.

Here are some safety tips to help keep your child’s online experience safer:

Do not allow your child to have a computer with Internet access in their bedroom or any area that is private. Move it into the family room or someplace where you can easily see the activity.

Set time restraints. Do not allow your child to spend hour after hour on-line.

Check history and consider installing tracking software as well as parental controls. If your child is “wiping” the history every time, then you should find out why.

Spend time with your child on-line. This does so many things including giving you quality time with your child. Explore together!

Teach your kids that when they come across any material that makes them feel uncomfortable, scared, or confused to immediately tell you or another trusted adult.

Teach kids to never reveal any personal information and to immediately tell you or a trusted adult if someone ever makes them feel uncomfortable or starts communicating in a sexually explicit manner.

On social networks like Facebook, make sure the privacy settings are on to limit contact to only those on your child’s “friends” list and those should be people the child actually knows in person.

Make sure your child understands that anything that gets posted on-line will always be out there and can NEVER be completely deleted. A suggestive picture to a boyfriend could end up anywhere and everywhere. All pictures should be cleared by you before posting.

Make sure your child understands that he or she should, under no circumstances, ever meet in person someone they met on-line without you being present.

We may not be able to watch our children 24/7, but as parents, it's our responsibility to educate them with the proper safety tools for them to have a positive experience when they are on-line. 

CRN