‘How to protect my child online’?

by | Dec 2, 2015 | Creating Beautiful Minds | 0 comments

Today’s teens use technology more than ever. Our youngsters have access to blogs, online videos, social networking, celebrity gossip and world news.

While most of the activities that your child participates in,such as emailing and chatting with friends, are safe, there are some dangers to using the Internet.

Unfortunately the same advances in computer and telecommunication technology that allow our children to reach out to new sources of knowledge and cultural experiences are also leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and harm by computer-sex offenders.Some teens may post inappropriate photos online or be the victims to cyber bullying. When your child uses the Internet, be aware of the possible dangers and follow some simple steps to protect them online.

  • Talk to your children about Internet safety. Remind them that they must never give out their full name, address or the name of their school to anyone online. Do not let them choose usernames that are suggestive or that would allow someone to identify them. Make sure that they know never to attempt to meet anyone that they have communicated with online without your permission.
  • Educate your child to only befriend people on social media that they know personally.
  • Teens are bombarded daily by media images that send out a message to our youth that their value or their worth is related to how they look physically. We now see a major problem with our teens who feel that they need to exchange sex for love. This

leads many young people to post inappropriate photos of themselves on websites or Face Book. What our teens need to be educated about is that once these images go out into the cyber world, they no longer own them, they have no control who sees them and these images are like a tattoo, there forever.

  • Supervise your child when they are online. Know which sites he/she visits, and monitor what types of online activities he/she participates in. Keep the computer in a central location in your home to make it easier to keep an eye on him/her. You are the parent and need to set boundaries with what your child can and can not have access to online.
  • Use your Internet provider’s parental controls to ban certain websites if desired. Another option is to install filtering software.
  • Check your computer’s history periodically to make sure that your child is following the rules that you have set for Internet use.
  • When it comes to online bullying which has become epidemic in todays society, encourage your child to communicate with you about what is going on in their world. They will be far more inclined to tell you about any online bullying if they feel they can confide in you. Bullying online has become so easy for teens to do as online communication gives people a sense of bravery and lack of accountability. Make sure your teen knows that cyber bullying is harmful and unacceptable.Teach teens not to respond to cyber bullies. Show them how to block the bully’s messages or to delete messages without reading them.