Keeping Kids Safe Online

Practical Parenting Tips for Online Kids Safety

By:  Tammy Smith-Chen

Even kids who don’t have internet access at home are exposed to it at school. The World Wide Web is available for most children in their schools and is used as a tool for their education.  Parents will usually have to sign a permission slip for their child to use the internet access at the school and feel comfortable in doing so since blocks are placed on the computers that don’t allow them to go to inappropriate web sites.  Occasionally, however, these computers get infected with viruses which cause them to bring up sites that are inappropriate for children to view.  This is rare, and most people consider the likelihood of this happening to small to eliminate the internet as a resource for the child’s education.  It is still something that parents should be aware of, however. 

Keeping Kids Safe Online – 5 Practical Tips

Since some of the dangerous sites for them aren’t adult sites, blocking adult content isn’t enough.  It is necessary to explain to kids what they should be aware of while on the internet.  Here are some practical tips for online kids safety.

1.    Set the ground rules.  They should never go to chat rooms where there are strangers waiting for an opportunity. There is simply no need for them to put themselves at risk. Using a messenger system that lets them talk to their friends is a much safer alternative. Facebook, My Space, and other social networking sites are for adults and it isn’t possible to tell when an adult may be pretending to be another child. These should be off limits for young children. They should never reveal their name, address, or age on the internet.  One way that predators have of tracking children is by the mention of their school or some local hangout that they commonly go to. This can be a restaurant or a mall or any type of landmark. Make it clear to children that they are never to discuss anything in their neighborhood that would lead to their location.

2.    Check their user identification name for every site they do go to. Sometimes children choose names that can be provocative or misleading without realizing it and predators may be attracted to the name.

3.    Find some child friendly sites that will give your child familiar and safe places to go on the internet. Spend time with them and watch their online habits so you have the opportunity to teach them new ones. Sites like ClubPenguin.com or Disney.go.com will give them games to play and has a place for them to create their own page.

4.    Keep the computer in the open where others can easily observe what your child is doing on it.  Don’t feel that you have to offer them any privacy online.  Check the history regularly to make sure they aren’t going somewhere that isn’t safe for them to be.

5.    Be honest with your kids. There are so many things that they have to look out for and just telling them to do or not do something won’t make a strong enough impression. If they are old enough to be using the internet, they are old enough to understand that there are bad people in the world who want to hurt them and will lie to them.