How to help your kids stay safe on the Internet?
How’s this for irony: while is the parent’s obligation to protect your children, kids tend to know more about tech than mom and dad – including how to navigate the Internet.
Understandably, many parents feel helpless because of this digital divide. But common sense, smart software, and Parental control can protect the ones you love.
No one solution can do it all, of course, but, collectively, the following tips should help.
Get a family affair. Especially with young kids, spend time together discovering the Internet. This medium will be a crucial part of their lives, and experts say it key to start on a positive note, bookmarking exciting websites to revisit, looking up information together, watching videos, and playing games.
Location, location, location, when they are ready to browse by themselves, rather than placing an Internet-connected to the computer in a young child’s room, keep it in the central location in the house, such as a family room or other highly trafficked area, kids can feel independent why surfacing online but not be “alone”.
Monitoring software wherever your kids are on a computer, phone, or tablet, software exists to filter out inappropriate websites and prevent sharing too much on social media. With Smart’s phone, there is a built-in app that can monitor a child’s whereabouts through the device’s location info, (I recommended first discussed these tracking tools with the kids.)
Conversation matter Tweens and teens are also assessing the Internet on a portable phone, tablet, and other devices, and parents can’t always supervise their activities, so it is important to have honest discussions about staying safe online. Topics can include: not oversharing on social media, the dangers of Sexting, and speaking up against cyberbullying.
Remembering the time you can set limits on the number of time children spend online. Whether it’s on a computer or a video game console, parental controls let you set restrictions, such as allowing only three hours a day. Video game consuls can be set to only play age-appropriate content, plus parents disable futures like chatting online when playing multiple player games
The silent invasion – This right on your face and yet invisible world can be extremely dangerous. online gaming is known as one of the most addicting internet activities today. in a matter of minutes, a simple computer can and will connect a child with a complete stranger that it’s not always the same age and with the same interest. This can easily turn into a parents’ nightmare.
Open dialog Having a real conversation with your kids and setting limitation to what can and can not be done, can save your child’s live. It is very important to remember that their level of understanding is vast but it’s very vulnerable. So it’s up to you as a parent to not only teach but supervise and protect your children from the wolves that are circulating the internet.
Just remember: doing it right, to begin with, is a lot easier to fix the mistake that sometimes can not be fixed. Happy parenting.
