Internet Safety; Is Your Child Safe on the Internet?

6 Tips to Help Parents Understand Proper Internet Safety

The Internet can be a dangerous place. Without the proper precautions, your child’s safety could be at risk. With one click even kids can access things that would give most adults a stomach ache. So how can you make sure that what they are viewing is safe? The best way to combat the dangers of the internet is to know what they are! Your kid’s internet safety should be the number one goal. Here is a list of the best ways to make sure that your children are safe while using the internet .

1. Computer location is key

Make sure the computer is located in an area of non-privacy, like the front room or kitchen. This prevents kids from wandering the internet (like clicking random links) without parental supervision. Kid’s internet safety depends much on how daring they are willing to be and they are much less likely to take chances if someone else can see what they are doing.

2. Be a part of their cyberworld

Know what types of social medias and forms of entertainment your children are using. Follow their social media accounts and check their posts and the comments on their posts somewhat regularly. Make sure you know who is commenting and liking their photos and posts. If you don’t know who someone is, ASK!

3. Account privacy is most important

Teach your kid not to share passwords, even with their best friends. You never know who else will find out. Keeping information private is the best way to say safe on the internet. Teach your kids to logout of computers, even if they are personal or home computers. Also make sure to check your search engine settings. Most search engines allow parental controls that will help narrow the list of possible choices that appear when your children are surfing the internet.

4. Keep up with software

Use antiviruses and pop-up blockers. There are plenty of free or pay-for-use pop-up blockers and antiviruses available on the internet. Antiviruses keep your computer safe from bugs and malware. This is just like putting up a fence to keep your toddler in the yard. It’s a precaution if everything else goes wrong.

To find that best antivirus for windows, click here. Of the top ten, nine are pay-for-use, however, if you’re budget is tight there is a free one too.

Here is a link to the same site but for Mac computers. All on this list are paid, but fear not, here is another link for free mac antiviruses.

5. Don’t just ban, understand

One in four children see porn by the age of 12. Try to understand why this is and make sure you stay in constant communication with your children about what they are viewing on the internet. If something goes wrong on the internet, don’t react by blaming your child. Instead, make yourself available for conversation if anything that they stumble on makes them uncomfortable.

6. What is put on the internet stays on the internet

Make sure that your kids know that whatever they put on the internet, even if deleted later, is still on the internet. This makes anyone think twice about whatever they think they want to post to the internet.

Let us know what you think about this list. If you have another way of keeping your children safe, let us know. Together we can make the internet a child friendly zone!

#kidsafeinternet