What Every Parent Should Know:Internet Safety For Children

According to reliable sources, over fifty million children between the ages of five and eighteen are constantly online. Children use the internet for a variety of reasons with the inclusion of school work and educational related reasons. There are so many security and safety risks involved with regard to children on the internet. The dangers children are facing online have become major topics on the majority of talk shows around the world. The media is continuously drawing out attention to extreme horror stories with regard to children on the internet. Each parent is hoping that it is not their child who will appear next on The Oprah Winfrey Show as another internet horror story.

Today there are lots of sites available online which are geared towards helping parents maintain their children's online safety. It is reassuring to know that in 2002 George W. Bush signed the child internet safety legislation. Various projects have been started to help children make the right decisions online. There are also many sites on the internet geared to helping parents understand the internet better and to effectively report any dangerous incidences to the appropriate authorities. The question to be asked is, what precautionary measures can parents take in order to help protect their children online and contribute towards their child's internet safety?

Ten internet safety tips for parents:

• Educate yourself. It is important to educate yourself and then your child with regard to internet safety.
• Manage your child's time on the internet. Managing your child's time on the internet will help preserve their internet safety.
• If your child receives any threatening or inappropriate messages contact your service provider and your local law enforcement agency. It is a good idea to make sure you don't hesitate and report the incident to the police as well as your internet service provider.
• Instruct your children to never give out personal information. It is vital that you make sure your children never give out any of their personal information under any circumstances.
• Avoid online profiles. It is better and will serve as a major contributing factor towards your child's internet safety if they avoid using profiles.
• Teach your children netiquette. Just because the words are typed as opposed to spoken, that doesn't lessen their intensity, it is vital to teach your child to have online manners.
• Teach children to not open emails from people that they do not know. Emails or links may contain a virus and opening these is not conducive to a child's internet safety.
• Keep the internet and computer in a common area of the house. Being able to have the computer situated in a family area will serve useful in the long run.
• Never blame your child for a mistake they may make online. If your child ever does tell your about an incidence where they may have acted incorrectly or made the wrong decision don't blame them rather be understanding and supportive. This will help ensure your child is honest with you in the future.
• Spend time on the internet with your child. It is vital that you personally spend time online with your child and point out to them the dangers involved. It may also be a good idea to let them show you what they have learned and can do. This will enhance your child's online safety.

Chatrooms and social networking sites are a major risk for children. People online are continuously taking advantage of children and targeting them online. It may be a good idea to get to know the dangers of chatrooms and what the abbreviations are. Children and teenagers generally speak in abbreviated terms on chatrooms and online. These abbreviations and chatroom languages are often difficult for parents to understand and grasp. It may be in every parent's best interest to learn the chatroom abbreviations as well as the chatroom dangers in order to understand what children are doing and saying online.

The safety and security of children online is an alarming issue that needs to be taken seriously. The internet has some wonderful advantages available to children but unfortunately along with these advantages also come disadvantages. It is imperative that parents and schools minimize the disadvantages for children online as best as they can. A new concern for parents is cyberbullying. One out of every four children becomes a victim of cyberbullying. It may be a good idea for parents to educate themselves on the topic of cyberbullying. It can thus be said in conclusion that regardless of what the specifications of the online security risks are: "Don't let your child be next"!