Internet Safety, A Parent's Job
By Richard French
Kids can have fun online and be relatively safe as long as parents understand they need to monitor and protect their kids online just as they would offline. Anymore, kids are more likely to meet a predator online then offline. Internet safety cannot be ignored, monitoring and supervising their kid’s online usage must become a normal part of parenting. It’s something every parent is going to have to work at.
Many parents mistakenly believe just because they have "good kids" that they don't need to monitor Internet usage i.e. they trust their kids. What parents must know is being naïve online is just as dangerous as being purposely bad. Many good kids with good parents are giving out to much information, are to trusting to strangers, believe everything they read online, think a Internet friend they have never met is a true friend. Active parenting is essential to your child's safety online.
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As far as the Internet goes, think about it this way. When you go on vacation with your kids you are generally more alert about their safety, you pay more attention to where they are and who's around them, you generally don't let them run off on their own, you do things together more then apart. When your kids are online they have the potential to meet very bad people, people that you would normally keep them away from. What makes it even worse is these bad people are actively looking for your kids. The internet has become a tool for online predators and they have learned to use it very well. So, pretend you’re on vacation when your child is online. Actually, keeping them safe online can be much easier then keeping them safe out in public. You just need some inexpensive software and to be a good internet parent, be alert, talk to them and pay attention and most of all review their usage daily and check the logs.
Online Dangers aside, A lot of these kids and I mean a lot of them are using very foul and vulgar language on these teens sites. They post pictures of themselves, some provocative. They talk about partying, sex, drinking and doing drugs. Many parents would be, and have been shocked when they discover their kid’s site. Parents, if your child uses Myspace then take a moment right now and look at their site, then look at their friend’s sites. Make sure it is appropriate to you. If you want to know about their friends you can always go to their Myspace and learn pretty much everything you want. These kids seem to be oblivious to the fact that parents can read their information and their messages, as can online predators.
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Some parents will gripe about monitoring their child's actions online. For the parents that have a problem with monitoring their kids online ask yourself this question, do you want your child meeting someone in person that they meet online? Do you want your child receiving or viewing pornography? Do you want your child using fowl language andor posting pictures of them selves on the Internet? If your answer is no then how are you ever going to know if any of these things are happening? You trust them right? well, kids make mistakes, kids mess up, kids ignore rules from time to time and kids don't always listen. It's your job as a parent to follow up and make sure they listen to you. The only way to do that is to monitor their online usage. Know one says you have to read their logs daily. Perhaps you’re comfortable with a daily scan or a weekly scan. Maybe you will only look at the logs when you sense something is wrong. It's up to you how often you check up on them, the important part is that you do.
Parents, if you allow Myspace do all the obvious things like talk to them, warn them and set rules regarding the Internet. (Use the Family Internet contract found at http://www.theparentsedge.com/Contract.html as a guide) and then most importantly supervise and monitor them.
Richard French has been happily married for 20+ years and is a father of 5 online kids and his site InternetSafety101 is dedicated in helping parents keeps their kids safe while online. With how to's, step by step guides,news,safe surfing rules, recommended software and more InternetSafety101 is here to help.
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