Parents today are concerned with protecting their children from all the bad and evil in the world. Sadly, that has come to the Internet. The Internet can offer vast amounts of intelligence, joy and fun. However, there are people out there that view children as prey. They use Instant Messengers and Social Networks are used to stalk children. How can children be protected when they log on? With a few simple precautions, and some research parents can have their children surfing in safety.
1. Place the computer in a family room – Putting the computer in a family room allows the parent to see what the child is doing and who they are talking to.
2. Start a My Space and Face Book of your own – Parents that have a page on a social network can see who there children’s friends are and understand what the whole social networking phenomenon is about.
3. Remind kids that online strangers are still strangers - Your children can be approached by anyone while they are online. Children should not give out any information or pictures to someone they have not physically have met. If they do run across a net stranger they should ignore them and talk to their parents immediately about the incident.
4. Create Separate accounts for children – Doing this allows the parent to keep track of each kid individually and help protect your private documents should the children accidentally download a virus.
5. Explain to children the importance of their passwords – If a kid gives his password to one of his accounts it could be exploited. Explain to them that it is similar to giving their key away to their house.
6. They should NEVER meet someone they met online without telling their parents! – This is just dangerous and doesn’t really need explaining.
And that is 6 simple tips parents should consider when it comes to protecting their children. Parenting is different for each parent and each parent should determine the amount of presence they have while there kids are surfing, playing or studying using the web.
Here are some more resources parents should read:
www.microsoft.com/protect/family/guidelines/basics.mspx
Filed under: Monday - How To, Uncategorized
