10 Important Tips To Keeping Your Kids Safe On The Online

Before I begin my post, this post will be as a entry for a in a contest at Happy Family Matters

This post is from there with a few comment added from me. It is worth your time to go check out his blog there is some great articles on everything from parenting to marriage. You will not be disappointed.

In keeping with the theme of my last post of monitoring your child's computer activities. I came across 2 great post over @ Happy Family Matters that every parent should read.

Look at these statistics...

* 70 percent (70%) of all 15-17 year-olds who have ever gone online have accidentally stumbled across pornography online, 23 percent "very" or "somewhat" often. (Kaiser Family Foundation study, 2001)

* 20 percent (20%) of children ages 10-17 have received a sexual solicitation over the Internet. (The Web's Dark Secret; Newsweek, 19 March, 2001)

This one really floors me!

* 43 percent (43%) of children said they do not have rules about Internet use in their homes. (Time/CNN Poll, 2000)

* 17 percent of parents believe their children are posting online profiles, as compared to 45 percent of children who report doing this. (Internet Safety for Kids; Protocol Analysis Institute)

The Internet is brimming with pornography, gambling and even predators on the Internet.

After seeing the stats parent need to open their eyes. You may have great kids but they are still have human curiosities and influences from peers and friends.

There is a website that is tried and tested. The website is http://www.k9webprotection.com/. I do not need to discuss the details here because it is very user-friendly and by the way, it is FREE. However, you might be confused on the sudden effect on the blogs (even on your own blog) because it immediately hides some social bookmarking widgets. But you can modify the filter setting anytime. It depends on you.

Here are some additional tips he gave...

1. Explain them to your children and its bad effect if they see them. However, you have to use the right words which will depend on their age.

2. I have been saying this repeatedly, but I have to say it again. Be the role model. Do not open these sites with adult content in front of your children. But if you really cannot help yourself in doing so, open them only if you are alone, and be sure you close them properly so that there will be a minimal chance that your child will surf on it.

3. Monitor your child’s attitude, words and actions very closely. These bad influences will manifest in them eventually. If you smell something fishy, do not approach your child at once because the more you do it, the more he will be interested in doing it. The best thing to do is to find ways to keep them away from your child’s eyes.

4. Pornography is not the only bad influence your children must not see. Illegal drugs, gambling, and violence are among them, too. But you will not be on a 24-7 basis to watch over your child so you should have detection-and-hide tools in your PC.

5. Do not allow your children to play on-line computer games especially when they are just renting somewhere. Not only that it is addictive but they will think that violence is just a game. These games are for adults only.

6. If they have to do some research for their homework, join them while they are browsing in front of the PC. If you are not available, ask a trusted adult to watch over them. It is better if you require your child to inform you in advance so that you can adjust your schedule.

7. Provide passwords on your PC so that you can be sure they cannot use it without your consent. Change them regularly because your child might learn about them.

8. Do not expose your child’s photos, real name and other personal information anywhere on the net, especially if your child blogs . Devils on line are just waiting for a chance to catch their prey.

9. Place your PC where you can easily see what is on the screen. The best location is the living room, rather than in a closed room.

10.If you think you are not capable to monitor your child’s activities while he/she is on line, do not allow him/her at all. Require your child to wait for the right time.

So parent please protect your children before it is to late.