Internet safety is a very important topic for a parent that
has a child of any age. Children may not understand that something they are
doing on the internet is unsafe. It is important that parents teach their
children how to use the internet safely. The internet is a great source of information
and learning for kids. The knowledge that the internet provides may help
children in school, and later on in life, but the internet does provide unsafe
situations for children.
The FBI has a website geared towards
kids learning what is safe to do on the internet or computer. Remember never
to give out personal information such as your name, address, school, and telephone
number in a chat room or on bulletin boards online. Never send a picture of
yourself to someone on the computer that you do not know. Never write to someone
that has made you feel uncomfortable or scared. Do not meet someone or have
them visit you without your parents’ permission. Tell your parents right away
if you read anything on the internet that makes you feel uncomfortable. Remember
that people online may not be who they say they are.
Parents
of younger children should sit next to them while they are on the computer. They
should ask their children to share their user names and passwords with them. If
the computer is in an open area then it is seen by other people as they walk
by, this is another way to ensure that children are not doing things they
should not be doing on the internet without supervision. Children should only
be allowed to use monitored chat rooms on kids sites. Parents can set up a
limited user account on their computer so kids need permission to do certain
things online. There are games online that teach children what they should and
should not do on the internet. Parents should let their children play this game in
order to gain useful knowledge on what to and not to do on the internet.
These are two videos I chose that parents can show their children on what is appropriate to do on the internet and what is not. Parents can show their kids videos like this so they have more knowledge on what is allowed and what is not online.
In order to keep their children
safe parents should agree on what types of sites are permissible for them to be
on and which ones are not. Parents should also give their children situations
on the internet and ask them what they would do in that situation. Netsmart
gives some
examples of this for this on pages 2, 3, and 4. It also tells parents what
their child’s response should be. Parents should also set limits on when and
how long their child can be on the computer for. Parents should make it very
clear that their children must not give out personal information to anyone on
the internet without the parents’ permission. Parents should restrict and
monitor what their children watch online as well as what they download off the
internet. Parents should also try to explain to their children what viruses on
the computer are and how to prevent getting them on their computer. Parents can
also come up with an internet contract for their kids to sign so that they know
their children are willing to follow their rules. 
Since the internet is used for more
things now it is especially important that parents know what their children are
doing online. There are many ways to control what kids see on the internet. Children
should not have internet on their cellphones. They do not need it for anything
of importance. It just distracts them while they are in school, and it could
lead to them being exposed to things that they should not be exposed to. Parents
that have young children should turn on their content blockers and filters. This
allows children to only search for certain things and it blocks sites with bad
material. The filter scans websites and blocks images, words, or phrases that
are not appropriate. Parents can also install tracking software so they can see
exactly what their kids are looking at. Parents should also talk to their kids
about what to do if they see something that is inappropriate on the internet.
