Fraud Tip of the Day February Tips February 13 - Online Safety - Protecting Children
Fraud Tip of the Day - February 13
Online Safety - Protecting Children
Keeping children safe is the number one priority for parents. Many are concerned that their children's activities on the internet could expose them to danger. This is certainly a legitimate fear but parents can do a lot to minimize the dangers kids face by taking an active role by educating themselves and paying attention to what their kids are doing. How many of you have heard of MySpace, know your kids use it but have never checked it out yourselves? If you haven't, you probably should because every parent should know who their kids are playing with. This includes online relationships.
Kids are using online services like MySpace, Facebook and Xanga to reach out and make friends. It's a totally different world than the one many of us grew up in. If you don't know much about it and your children are using social networking sites it's your job to know what the lay of the land is so you can advise your kids and keep them out of trouble. Sites like MySpace do what theycan to protect minors but they can only do so much. You can't blame everything that goes wrong on them. Some of the blame falls on the parents who let their kids use these sites without paying attention.
To help, we've come up with some tips to help parents better understand social networking sites so that they can monitor their children's activities. If you feel a little guilty remember that you're not Big Brother, you're a parent.
Social Networking Site Tips
- Visit these sites www.myspace.com, facebook, xanga. Create a profile and fill it with as much information as you can. Log in and take a look around.
- Check out your child's profile and find out what they've entered. You will also be able to see who some of their online friends are. You can find their profile by searching for their email address or use an advanced search feature to browse by age, interests, sex and even zip code. It may take a while but if it's there, you'll find it.
- From your child's profile you can see what they've written in their blog and even see what they've said on other blogs.
General Kids Online Safety Tips
- Keep them in sight while they are online. Don't let them have a computer in their bedrooms. If they are out of your sight, they are more likely to engage in behavior that you'd rather they didn't.
- Limit their time online. Don't let them spend too much with friends online. Allow them a certain amount of time for email, instant messaging and blogging. After that it's homework time and the instant messages have to stop.
- Check up on them. Take a look at your kid's browser history from time to time. That way you can see where they go and how often. Visit these sites yourself and if you think it isn't appropriate for them to view them have a frank talk about it.
- Discuss online safety with your kids. Make sure this is an ongoing discussion and not a one time deal. Safety needs to be drilled into their heads and you're going to have to remond them constantly. Make sure they understand how important it is not to give out personal information through emails, blogging or instant messaging.
Avoid internet scams and protect yourself and your family by learning the tricks scammers use on the 'net.
