TIPS TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE WHILE ONLINE
- Keep computers in a common area of the home so you can monitor your child’s online activities.
- Encourage your child to use nicknames rather than his or her real name when online.
- Tell your child to be careful when posing for pictures or videos.
- Remind your children that anything they post can be viewed by potentially millions of people.
- Teach your child to think about what he or she is posting before doing so.
- Tell your child it’s never okay to meet someone he or she has met only online.
- Teach your children to keep identifying information about themselves off of their blogs, social networking profiles, and photos.
- Learn about the social networking sites your child uses; if he or she has a MySpace page, learn how to use MySpace.
- Teach your children to set their personal settings on social networking sites to “private” and make sure they “friend” you.
- Be engaged and communicate with your child; let him or her know that you will check their computer history and text messages or even Google their names.
- Tell your child to keep passwords secret.
- Watch your child for signs of cyber bullying.
- If your child is being cyber bullied, save all evidence, including emails and text messages.
- Tell your children to talk to an adult if they are being cyber bullied.
- Remind your children to treat others the way they would like to be treated.
- If your child knows someone who is being cyber bullied, encourage him or her to reach out and help the person.
- Teach your child not to forward photos that may be embarrassing or hurtful to others.
- Talk with your child and create a relationship of trust.
The information in the articles listed above is extracted from contemporary safety literature. The original sources are available upon request.
