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How to Protect Your Child Online

Article Submitted by :

DetSgtDarryl

over 2 years ago

19 articles submitted

How to Protect Your Child Online

Parents need to protect their children online at home.

In today’s society, our children are exposed to the whole new world of cyberspace. Our children are more fluent on the internet and technological equipment than any other generation. They can text message others in a language that is mostly unknown to parents. The use of abbreviations is intended to mask the message for speed in communicating. There are imminent dangers lurking around in the new dimension of communication.

The child molesters, lurkers and ones that lure children are waiting in computers all over the country. We need to protect our children from these dangers. Parents need to become involved in the child’s online time, as the internet is not bad for children. The internet can expand your child’s mine and deliver teaching that teachers cannot devote the time for. It is a superhighway of knowledge. The online services available to our children are unlimited in knowledge.

Here are some tips to protect your child for ones trying to sexually exploit or harass them.

1. Spend time with your child online. Learn their online interests.
2. Always keep the computer in a room that everyone has access to.
3. Purchase or use your ISD to block website or certain keywords.
4. Carefully monitor or refuse chat rooms.
5. Parents and children should agree to email accounts being monitored by the parents.
6. Verify the school system is protecting your child online at school
7. Teach them to NEVER arrange to meet ANYONE that they meet online, period.
8. Never allow children to upload pictures of themselves to any website
9. Never give out name, address, age, gender, school attended, cell number or home number.
10. Teach them to never download pictures from a site not approved by you.
11. Teach them to never post to discussion posts, if any obscene, vulgar, threatening, harassing or demeaning posts are there or direct at the child.
12. Teach the child the safe guards of blogging. Some are to never say anything offensive at all no matter if they are being bullied online. Stay away period. Even if the threats are coming from a friend at school. The child should never retaliate.
13. Do not allow the child to say their age.
14. If the website requires a higher age than your child, don’t let them lie to be able to get on. This just subjects them to older persons that could harm your child.
15. If chatting is allowed and monitored, still do not let them chat in a private chat room. All chat must be in public view online.
16. If blogging, never let your child use their name, not even their first name. Initials only.
17. Anything the child posts on a blog is permanent and could have future repercussions.
18. Make sure the blog website uses secure servers.
19. Don’t let the child argue under any circumstance online. Never
20. Parents should review the blogs the child posts under even after the child is offline to see what was said to the child.
21. Parents should be reviewing the messages before posts.
22. Parents should learn what the abbreviations are in text and instant messaging means.

Contact your local law enforcement if your child is receiving threats online, being harassed, solicited for in person meetings, or sent a sexually explicit photo or being requested to send one to them.

Our children are our future, so we are responsible for protecting theirs. If any doubt, ask your local law enforcement agency.