Tips on Safe Internet Use for Kids
As well as being wonderfully informative, a great children's educational resource and lots of fun, today you'll find that browsing the internet can also have it's dangers for your children. Here we cover some of the basics as a starting point, offering some helpful tips that parents can use.
5 Basic Tips of Safe Internet Use
Tip #1 - Start Off by Talking to Your Kids - The first thing you need to do is talk to your kids. Explain that the world wide web is a place for adults and well as children, and that there are many things that are not appropriate for them. Let them know that there can be some dangers on the internet and don't be frightened to go into some of the dangers, keeping it age appropriate. Let them know the rules of being online, make them aware of the dangers of "chatting" with strangers, tell them they must never agree to meet anyone, and that they should use the computer only in a public family location.
Tip #2 - Use Some Type of Parental Control - Take a look as some "parental control" options available for computers. Look in your local high steet or carry out a quick search for "parental control software" and you'll find many different types available to download. These that can be a huge help to you by blocking inappropriate sites from your children. Usually you'll find that your internet browser will have some parental control options. Internet Explorer users can choose "Tools" in the menu bar, then select "Internet Options", and click on the "Content" tab. You will find some Parental Control and Content Advisor settings. You can set these immediately, but note that they are only basic and offer far less protection than the specialist software packages available.
Tip #3 - Have a Limited Account for Your Kids - Parental control settings can be set within different accounts on the same computer. You'll find that all computers allow you to have separate accounts for different users and you can set up the privileges for each account from the administrator account. This way you can decide what privileges that your kids can have when they are on the computer.
Tip #4 - Check Out Where Your Kids Visit Online - Don't be afraid to check up on your kids by checking out where they visit on the internet. Take a look at the browsing history on the web to see where they have been going. This way you know the types of sites that they have been visiting. If you happen to notice that something isn't right, you can follow up on it. To check History within Internet Explorer press Control/Shift/H at the same time.
Tip #5 - Make Sure They Never Give Personal Information - Try explaining to your child the dangers of giving out personal information online. You may decide to simply say that they are not allowed to give out their address, telephone number, or even their full name as this can be very dangerous when on the web. They need to be mindful that the person they are corresponding with may not be who they say they are, and muct never agree to meet anyone.
Check here for more advice on how to protect children when browsing online
This is an original news article © The Kids Window
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