5 Ways To Ensure Your Children Are Safe When They Use The Internet

There's not many people in the country today that don't have access to a computer. You maybe have one in your home and if you do then this is very important. There's too many parents don't understand how to handle a computer that's connected to the Internet if they have children.

I don't say this to hurt your feelings. Only to help make sure your children are not harmed. You've probably read something on the news about some creepy guy using the Internet to share horrible pictures of children. Those pictures could be taken from across the other side of the world.
Sneaky people can trick kids into taking pictures on webcam and forwarding them.

Then you have kids who get heavily bullied on social media platforms. Some have it so tough that they kill themselves. All of these stories are tragic and can happen to any child unless their parents know what's happening and how to look after them while they are online. Don't think it doesn't matter and it won't happen to your child. You won't forgive yourself if it does. I'm going to go through a few things you can start doing and it will make it easy for you to increase your internet security today.

Install some software

You can install software that will allow your children onto safe websites, but it will stop them landing on anything you don't want them to. This is one of the best ways to keep them safe while you are not there. There's also keylogger software than will let you go in and see the things they were doing online. Although your children might think this is some form of spying they shouldn't have a choice in the matter. The only important thing is that they are safe.

Sit down with them

You might want to make sure they are never online unless you are sitting beside them. This is better if they are younger and don't spend too long online. You obviously can't be expected to sit there all day as they get older. Maybe you can make it a rule that you only sit with them when they are using certain websites. Social media platforms are a good idea, because there can be online bullying going on in places like Facebook and you need to know.

Teach them not to be mean

Everyone who goes online knows that people don't act the same way they do offline. Not everyone is like that, but there's a huge amount of people who do. You don't want your child to get caught up in speaking nasty to people. This is because it could alter their personality, but more importantly there could be people who take offense to what's said and launches an attack against them.

Don't let them share their details

This one is huge, because there's so much people who have shared private things only to have it thrust back in their face. You need to teach your child that anything online will stay there forever in a huge majority of cases. If you start putting up pictures and sharing details you only need one bad egg to find them and they could do anything with it. It's better to be anonymous when you're online until you reach a certain age and can handle yourself.

Enquire about their activities

We've already touched on this because in regards to the social networking sites, but things can happen online and people get bullied. A good parent can only help if they know about it. You should sit them down once per week and ask them about what they've been doing online. This shouldn't be used in a scary way. It should be used to make sure they are OK and nobody is picking on them.

  Karmin Kelly

About the Guest Author:

Karmin Kelly is a child counsellor. Her articles stress the need to keep tabs on kids, but not total control, with various methods like computer monitoring software. Blogs by her help kids as wells as their parents.