Parental Safety Tips

From 1984 to 2012 there has been over a 70% increase in computers in the home. Because of this, more and more children have access to the internet. To keep your child safe from online predators and cyber bullies, here are a few tips:

• Keep your computer in a high-traffic area of the house. Keep an eye on where your child is going online.
• Tell your children not to give out any personal information to strangers from social media and to tell you if they receive messages from strangers.
• Check your child’s browsing history often. This keeps a track of where your child has been online.
• Make sure you know what kind of sites your child goes on and what kind of chat rooms they make accounts for.
• If your child is involved in online gaming, make sure the game is suitable for their age and be aware that they are playing with other strangers on the internet.
• Make sure your child knows that if they are pushed into something uncomfortable, like sending inappropriate pictures or messages to tell you so you can report it to authorities.
• Tell your children never to respond to messages that have bad words, are scary, or just seem weird.
• Tell your children never to enter an area that charges for services without asking you first.
• Make sure that access to the Internet at your children’s school is monitored by adults.
• Make sure your children know to never agree to meet face-to-face with someone they’ve met online without discussing it with you. Only if you decide that it’s okay to meet their "cyber-friend" should they arrange to meet this person, and then the meeting should be in a familiar public place in the presence of a trusted adult.
• Make sure your children know that cyber bullying is still bullying, and should not be tolerated.
• If your child is a victim of cyber bullying, save all evidence and report it to the child’s school.

Children and teens have more access than ever to the internet. By monitoring what our children do, we can help keep them safe online.