10 Internet Safety Rules for Kids
Monitoring your kids’ use of the internet by sitting with them is the most ideal way to keep them away from all the threats possible online. But this isn’t possible all the time.
So, to make sure that your kids are safe using the internet when you aren’t around, there are a number internet safety rules that your kids should know.
1. Follow the specific time to use the computer. Explain to them why there is a need to set internet time. Let them develop obedience as a virtue and a sense of responsibility for their actions.
2. Never share personal information to strangers you meet online. These include: name, home address, phone number, email address, password, school information, bank account information, and credit card numbers. Online predators are everywhere and their main targets are your kids who are innocently giving their personal information that can put their safety on the line.
3. Never engage in online gambling. Gambling is simply, taking risks. And most of the time the risks are high.
4. Use a pseudo name or nickname when using instant messaging or entering chat rooms.
5. Avoid filling out online contests, surveys, and registration forms. They ask too much personal information including email address. Take note that spammers can collect email addresses from the web using programs such as bots, crawlers, and spiders.
6. Never open, download attachments, and reply to emails from unknown senders. The best way for spammers to know if the addresses are correct is by receiving a reply. So teach your kids to remove spam immediately from their inbox. Also, attachments from spam usually contain viruses that can cause damage to your file and computer.
7. Stay in moderated public chart rooms and avoid private chats. This will keep your kids away from harassing other people.
8. Teach them to ask permission first before meeting up with someone you meet online. The rule of the thumb is clear: never trust anyone you meet online. People may not be who they say they are.
9. Check before downloading anything. There are free downloadable programs on the internet with free spyware and viruses as well. Ask your parents first about the program even if the programs come from reputable sites.
10. If you see some images or web contents that are disturbing, tell your parents right away.
June 28th, 2010at 3:25 pm
The bottom line is that if parents REALLY want to keep their kids safe online, they need to know what they are doing on the computer, and what is happening in their online lives. Blocks and filters are easy to get around, and talking alone will get you nowhere… (if you think your kids are going to tell you, honestly, everything they are doing online – you are only kidding yourself). Education is a great thing, and very necessary, but how can you consider yourself educated if you don’t know the simplest information – like what your kids are really doing on the Internet to begin with. If you have monitoring software, like our PC Pandora (http://www.pcpandora.com), you will know everything they do and will be able to talk to them about it. If you aren’t monitoring and don’t know what they are really doing, how can you be sure they are safe? It’s not an issue of privacy (I have no idea where and when kids were granted endless privacy because they exist – in my day privacy was earned through trust and an established good behavior record), nor is it an issue of trust – it’s called being a 21st century parent. If you don’t know what your kids are doing online, you aren’t doing your job as a parent. If you aren’t monitoring what your kids do online and watch them, someone else will…