subject: Internet Safety Keeping You Children Safe [print this page] Internet safety for children is an important subject and something many parents are concerned about. The internet does have many good points, but there are dangers, and parents and children should be particularly cautious.
So, what can you do to protect your children when they are online?
Use A Child Safe Browser
These are browsers that block websites with content that is not appropriate for children to view. Although you can never be completely sure it will block everything, it will at least go some way to protect children from content that is not child friendly.
Observe Children When They Are Using The Internet
It may not always be possible, but where it is, you should observe what your children are looking at, or at least be in the same room as them.
Limit Internet Usage
There are many reasons to limit the time your children spend on the internet. Spending too much time on the computer is not healthy, and the less time they spend online the less chance of them coming across something they shouldnt.
Stay In Touch
Parents should keep abreast of the latest online threats, so they know the dangers their children could face. It is a good idea to read up on the subject occasionally. If you are educated on these matters, you can educate you children, thus protecting them from internet dangers.
The better placed you are to protect your children the better, but children themselves also need to be aware. So, what should parents tell their children to do and not to do when using the internet?
Dont Give Away Personal Information
Parents should tell their children not to give information such as their telephone number, their address or their age to people online. There are times when they cannot be sure who they are talking to and who will see this information.
Dont Meet Up With Online Friends
Children should not meet up with someone they have met online. The problem here is that it is easy to hide your identity online, so you never know who you will really be meeting.
Dont Give Information About You Away
Any information children would not be comfortable with everyone knowing should not be shared online. Whether true or not, this could be seen by anyone and may not disappear in a hurry. If there is something they wouldnt share with their entire school is should not be revealed online, because all of their friends (and even people they dont know) may be privy to this information.
Dont Post Pictures Of yourself Online
Any pictures posted online have the potential to get anywhere. They can even be manipulated. For obvious reasons children posting pictures of themselves online could lead to problems.
Dont Tell People Your Plans
Again, this could be seen by anyone. If people know where children will be and when, then they will easily be able to find them. This means they could be tracked down by anyone, from school bullies to child predators.
Dont Respond To Messages If Not Comfortable Doing So
If a child is sent a message online they should not response unless they feel comfortable. All they have to do to ignore it is delete it or turn their computer off.
