Parents Stay Informed!

PARENTS GUIDE YOUR CHILDREN ONLINE

What do you know about your child's internet activity

Are you aware of the sites your child visits on a daily basis?

Do you know who and with whom they are communicating with online?

All of the above questions are for parents to consider,  how important being aware of your kid's daily practices are online.

The internet is filled with endless possibilities and resources that interests your kids, whether it is educational, interactive and fun games or activities. However, there is a dark side to the internet such as internet predators, cyber-bullying and access to pornographic and explicit materials that I am sure no parent would want their kids exposed.

Parents, must maintain a presence online as their kids navigate the world wide web. Any tween or teen, must be made to understand that although the internet is quite useful, it is also filled with dangers.
It is the parent's responsibility to teach their children the responsible way of surfing the net. What are the do's and don'ts for their child's internet activity.

Here's a quote from a Detective of a Cyber Crimes Investigations Uni:

"The Internet is an uncharted world, It's a world that parents don't know, but kids do. Parents would be shocked to see what goes on."

Her'e another quote from Father of a teen kidnapped by someone she met on the Internet:

"How it happened, God, I don't know how it happened, but it did,"
"People, y'all got to watch your children. You got to learn how to take care . . . a little better than we think we know how.""Watch your children, folks, OK? My baby was in front of me on her computer. I mean in front of me.  Not in her room," 

Parents, must be one step ahead of their children, although, many of us parents are living in their domain, where for many of us are far behind, however, there are many useful sites that are available to assist and equip parents with the knowledge of how to keep their family safe online.

The key to online family safety is that Parents Stay Informed, we need to truly consider how intrusive the internet is with our family especially our teens. The above quotes show us, how more involved we need to be as parents with our tweens and teens.

Below is a starter list for you to review and find out more about internet safety and staying informed:

Microsoft- http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/default.aspx

Family Online Safety- http://www.fosi.org/

Get Net Wise- http://www.getnetwise.org/

Internet Safety Game Plan- http://www.internetsafety.com/internet-monitoring-game-plan.php