Kids Online Safety
Prevent your kids from spending too much time online.
The Internet creates interest and excitement and therefore it can occupy most of your children’s productive time. While in their growing years, it is important for them to manage their time and expose themselves to various activities during the day or the week in order to make their growing years more fruitful and meaningful, apart from just internet.
The following are some tips for parent to monitor their children’s time online and to ensure that they are safe as well.
>> Ask yourself if your child’s Internet use is affecting his or her school performance, health, and relationships with family and friends.
>> Determine how much time your children are spending online.
>> Get help, if your child is demonstrating strong signs of Internet addiction, consider seeking professional counseling. Compulsive Internet use may be symptomatic of other problems such as depression, anger, and low self-esteem.
>> Examine your own online habits. Do you have trouble controlling your Internet use? Remember, you are your child’s most important role model.
>> Don’t ban the Internet. It’s an important part of most kids’ social lives. Instead, establish family Internet rules about where your kids can go online and what they can do there – and stick to them. These rules might include: a limited amount of time online each day; no surfing or instant messaging until kids complete their homework; no chat rooms or online adult content.
>> Keep the computer out in the open. Set up your computer in a public area of your house, not in a child’s bedroom.
>> Establish a balance. Encourage and support your child’s participation in other activities – particularly physical pastimes with other children.
>> Help your child socialize offline. If your child is shy or socially awkward with peers, consider a social skill class. Encourage activities that will bring your child together with others who have similar interests, such as computer classes or hobby groups.
>> Teach your kids that not everything they read or see online is true. Encourage them to ask you if they’re not sure.
>> Monitor your kids. Investigate software that monitors and restricts Internet use, such as the parental controls. Although filtering and monitoring tools are helpful, keep in mind that they can be disabled by a savvy computer user. Your ultimate goal should be helping your kids to develop self-control, discipline, and accountability with the Internet.
>> Suggest alternatives. If your children seem interested only in playing online video games, try an offline tie-in to one of their favorite games. For example, if your child enjoys fantasy role-playing games, encourage her or him to read fantasy books.
Protecting your kids from online predators
The Internet has become an important part of our life, we use it for work, play and study but we must be aware of the dark side similar to real life problems that can affect your children. Talk to your kids about sexual predators and potential online dangers.
>> Young children should not use chat rooms – the dangers are too great. As children get older, direct them towards well-monitored kids’ chat rooms. Encourage even your teens to use monitored chat rooms.
>> If your children take part in chat rooms, make sure you know which ones they visit and with whom they talk. Monitor the chat areas yourself to see what kind of conversations take place.
>> Instruct your children to never leave the chat room’s public area. Many chat rooms offer private areas where users can have one-on-one chats with other users – chat monitors can’t read these conversations. These are often referred to as “whisper” areas.
>> Keep the Internet-connected computer in a common area of the house, never in a child’s bedroom. It is much more difficult for a predator to establish a relationship with your child if the computer screen is easily visible. Even when the computer is in a public area of your home, sit with your child when they are online.
>> When your children are young, they should share the family e-mail address rather than have their own e-mail accounts. As they get older, you can ask your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to set up a separate e-mail address, but your children’s mail can still reside in your account.
>> If all precautions fail and your kids do meet an online predator, don’t blame them. The offender always bears full responsibility. Take decisive action to stop your child from any further contact with this person.
Source: www.esecurity.org.my
NST1klassifieds, Saturday, September 5, 2009
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