The Internet is like the world's biggest city: cosmopolitan, filled with interesting sights and useful resources and boasting its share of bad neighborhoods and dangerous people. Though a valuable social outlet and education tool for children, parents need to monitor their kids' online activity and teach them how to stay safe online.
Computer Placement
According to family safety instructor Tom Patire in his "Personal Protection Handbook," placing the family computer correctly is one of the simplest and most effective ways to keep your children safe online. Patire recommends placing the computer in a high-traffic area with the screen plainly visible. This lets you check your children's screen periodically without becoming overly intrusive. The "publicness" of the computer also serves to deter your children from breaking house rules about Internet use.
Know Where Your Children Visit
Patire says that it's important to know what sites your children visit while surfing the Internet. He recommends finding out first by maintaining an open dialog with your kids. Talk about their interests openly and without judging them. This will help them feel more confident bringing up things they've seen and read that may be more questionable. Computer security consultant Josh Rochester also notes that there are many computer tools to help you track your children's usage. These range from the histories in browsers to expensive monitoring programs used by corporations to track their employees' Internet time.
Know Who Your Children Talk With
Kids can spend hours on social networking sites, instant messages and chat rooms. Often, this is just them talking with friends and acquaintances from all over the world. However, predators sometimes use those same sites to find and contact victims. The FBI recommends that parents encourage their children to tell you immediately if a new person online does anything inappropriate. Some examples would be soliciting personal information, suggesting an in-person meeting or asking a child not to talk about something with parents. In general, if something happens online that makes your children uncomfortable, they should tell you.
Safeguarding Personal Data
In addition to finding victims for sexual predation, some online criminals are cruising for tools to let them commit identity theft. Gavin de Becker, security expert and author of two books on personal safety, says that we should never put any information on the web that we wouldn't post on the bulletin board of every grocery store in the country. Make sure your children understand that they should never give out personal information online. If they are involved in a project or a purchase that requires giving personal information to a trusted site, have them summon you and you can do it if you feel it's appropriate and safe.
Teaching Children About Internet Predation
It can be difficult to balance educating your children about danger against not scaring them too much. De Becker's opinion is that, since Internet predators may, in the extreme, torture and murder children, it's impossible to scare a child too much about the dangers of Internet predation. Have regular meetings about the Internet, incorporating both tools for them to use online and educating them about safety.
References
- "Personal Protection Handbook"; Tom Patire; 2005
- "The Gift of Fear"; Gavin de Becker; 2001
- "Protecting the Gift"; Gavin de Becker; 2005
- Josh Rochester; Consultant, Radiant Tiger Computing; Hillsboro, OR
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