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Keep Your Kids
Safe Online
by
Colleen Moulding
Thousands of children
and young people use the Internet
every day without any problems at all, but we've
all
heard about it's darker side and the danger they
could
find themselves in. Here are ten quick tips to
make
sure that your kids enjoy using this wonderful
resource
without putting themselves at risk.
1. The most important thing you can do to ensure
your
child's safety on the Internet is to be there when
they
are using it. Don't let children surf in their
bedrooms
or in a separate room to the rest of the family. If
this
is unavoidable, make sure that you are often in and
out
of the room that they are using, keeping an eye on
what
is going on.
2. Have clear rules about what is and what is not
allowed
and stick to them. This might be no e-mailing, no
chat
rooms, only chat rooms approved by you or whatever
you
decide. Some people like to draw up a contract with
their
children agreeing which types of site can be visited
and
which activities participated in.
3. Get involved in what your kids do online. Get
them to
show you their favourite sites, tell you about their
e-mail
buddies and explain what they like doing online.
This will
give you an insight into the possible pitfalls. If
you want to
keep a check on which web sites they are visiting,
click on
History in your browser window.
4. Download some filtering software. There is
software
available that can stop your child giving out
personal
information such as his/her name, address and
telephone
number. Stress to them the importance of keeping
such
information private. Even competitions and product
offers
are not always what they seem to be and false sites
have been
discovered with just the intention of getting this
type of
information from children.
5. For younger children consider using a site like
Surf Monkey at http://www.surfmonkey.com where
you
can download free tools to help children surf
the
web safely. There's the Surf Monkey Bar, which
incorporates safety features to ensure sites
visited
are kid friendly and there is the animated Surf
Monkey
character which acts as a web guide to the surfing
child.
Parents can use a password system to build in
safety settings for the bar and browser and for
activities
on the Surf Monkey Kids Channel. Parents can then
sign
their children up for the Surf Monkey club if they
want
them to join in on the community features such as
chat rooms,
message boards and e-mail. The bar is easily turned
off for
adult use.
6. Older kids are just as vulnerable as young ones.
Teenage
girls, for example, are at risk from men who lure
them into
face to face meetings after chatting to them online
for many
weeks before suggesting that they get together. Make
sure
children know never, ever to arrange a meeting with
someone
they get to know online without your permission. If
they
really want to meet up with a friend made in a chat
room or
similar, go with them and make sure that the parents
of the
child/teen that they are meeting know about the
arrangement too.
7. Make sure that children understand that not
everything they
read is necessarily true. This can be difficult, but
it's a
life skill they need to learn. All through life we
have to
make decisions about whether or not information is
of value.
Discuss with your children how to evaluate the
material they
find and the difference between fact and opinion.
8. Teach them to stay out of trouble by not posting
anything
bad about another person no matter how angry they
may feel at
the time. Once a comment is out there it cannot be
retracted,
and many hurtful remarks have been posted in the
heat of the
moment. It is much better to leave a chat area than
to get
drawn into anargument.
9. See that they understand that taking pictures,
writing or
music from web sites without the permission of the
copyright
holder can get them into trouble as it is stealing
someone
else's work.
10. Tell them firmly never to pay money or agree to
pay money
for anything without parental supervision and never
to use your
credit card details without your knowledge and
permission.
Also make sure that they recognize mass mailed money
making
schemes for what they are and are not foolish enough
to waste
their money on them.
Copyright Colleen Moulding 2000
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About the author: Colleen Moulding is a
freelance writer from England where she has
had many features on parenting, childcare, travel,
the Internet and many more subjects published in
national
magazines and newspapers. She has also published
a variety of women's and children's fiction.
Her work frequently appears at many sites on
the
Internet and at her own site for women and children
All That Women Want.com a magazine, web guide
and resource for women everywhere.
http://www.allthatwomenwan
t.com
Why not drop by? It was made for you!
Subscribe to the free monthly e-zine containing
articles,
ideas, tips, site reviews and lots more by sending
a blank e-mail to:
allthatwomenwant-subscribe@egroups.com
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