To ensure that your children’s Internet experience is safe, consider the following tips:
1. Get Involved.
There’s no substitute for parental involvement. Ask your children to show you their favorite sites and ask them about their online friends. Spend some time looking over the same information and ask the same questions you do when you want to know where they go and who they hang out with after school.
Take some time to check your child’s Web site activity and email. Now teens may feel that this is an invasion of privacy, but let them know that it’s for their own safety and encourage them to talk openly about their Internet use – while at home and outside of the house – with you.
To prevent future problems, it also might be worth while to consider moving the computer to a central location in the house, like the kitchen or family room. This way, you will be able to monitor your children’s activity on the Internet, while still giving them a certain level of privacy as they 'surf.'
2. Establish the Rules and Make a Contract.
Given the amount of time children are spending online, it is critical to continue to reiterate some basic online Dos and Don’ts. Create an Internet Use Agreement that includes the consequences for breaking the rules. Print and post the contract by the computer, or have parents and children sign the document.
3. Make Technology Your Friend.
Take advantage of built-in, on-line parental controls that allow you to determine the level of access you want your children to have. E-mail controls prohibit unauthorized people from sending messages to your children, and blocking software prevents children from exploring online areas that may not be age appropriate. Other filters include limiting the time a child spends online, setting a predetermined time range, i.e. between 3pm and 9p.m., or downloading Spyware – software that records a user’s Internet activity – to monitor a child’s online behavior.
4. Make Internet Time Family Time.
Use the Internet with your child to play games, plan for a family vacation, or learn about new places and people. Ask your child to teach you more about the computer and show you certain skills he or she may have learned. Not only will you gain computer knowledge, you will also gain valuable information on just how savvy your child is on the computer. Search for weird things and spend time laughing, being together and having fun.