Internet Safety

                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.