The Internet is entertaining and educational, but it poses a plethora of dangers to children without strict parental monitoring. Unfortunately, the normal security precautions that keep adults safe online are generally not enough to adequately protect children, explains the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team. This is because the natural curiosity and innocence of children makes them vulnerable to threats from sexual predators and malicious programs. Open communication and active involvement in your child's web activity are essential to protecting him from online dangers.
Step 1
Familiarize yourself with the Internet and with social networking websites, such as MySpace and Facebook. You cannot properly monitor your child's web activity if you are unaware of how these websites work.
Step 2
Place household computers in family areas instead of in your child's bedroom. This enables you to monitor how often your child is online and allows you to see what websites he is visiting.
Step 3
Lock your child's MySpace and Facebook accounts to prevent strangers from accessing his profile and contacting him. Both websites allow users to set privacy designations that prevent people from viewing private information without permission. Do the same for any instant messaging programs your child uses.
Step 4
Become friends with your child on any social website he uses so that you are able to view posts made by him and his friends. Check his friends list frequently for new additions or suspicious persons.
Step 5
Encourage your child to speak with you openly about his web activity, and assure him that he will not be punished for reporting bullying, harassment, inappropriate content or solicitations. The Cyber Division of the FBI recommends discussing the dangers of online activity and relationships with your child to make certain he understands why it is not safe to meet strangers offline.
Step 6
Limit the amount of personal details your child displays online, such as his birthdate, address and phone number, and check every photo he uploads for images that may identify his home or school location. Clues such as school shirts and street signs can be used by predators to locate your child.
Step 7
Enforce time limits on your child's web activity and punish your child for violating those limits. Restrict his Internet access if he refuses to follow your rules or engages in unsafe behavior online.
Step 8
Use the security features on your child's computer and browser to block suspicious websites and mature content. Review the history of visited websites on your child's browser regularly to see what pages he has viewed.
Step 9
Install monitoring software that can track your child's online activities and generate a report of suspicious activity. These programs are able to locate your child's online accounts, monitor postings for specific words, search friends lists for people who are much older than your child is and look for other red flags. Monitoring software is available for download online or you can purchase software at most computer retailers.
References
- United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team: National Cyber Alert System
- The New York Times Online: Now Parents Can Hire a Hall Monitor for the Web; Brad Stone; 2010
- Microsoft Corporation: Improve Your Family's Web Security in 4 Steps
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division: A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
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