One of my readers, Melanie Slaugh, sent me this link entitled "10 Scary FaceBook Status Updates Parents Should Watch For." It provides good information for parents about what to look for, and be concerned about, with regard to the content of your child's social networking status. I think it is important to monitor what your child is doing on the internet. This may seem like an invasion of their privacy but, with all the predators and cyberbullies out there, I believe it is a parents job to keep their child safe in cyberspace.
http://www.myispfinder.org/ispblog/2011/10-scary-facebook-status-updates-parents-should-watch-for/
Showing posts with label cyber safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cyber safety. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Cybersafety: What to Teach Your Children about Cyberpredators
It is important to instill in your children the idea that they do not necessarily “know” the person that they may have been chatting to or playing games on line. Cyberpredators often present themselves as young children on line in order to gain information about children. Instill in your children that cyberpredators can be great POSERS. Making your children aware of the “grooming process” that cyberpredators use may go a long way towards protecting them. An instant message of “ASL” (which is asking for age, sex and location) could be the beginning of that grooming process.
Talk to your children about ways that they can stay safe on the internet. They should not give anyone personal information or post pictures. Seemingly harmless pictures can provide predators with clues as to your child’s location. One girl posted a picture of her playing soccer for her eighth grade team. Using the colors and number on the uniform, and the town she was from, he was able to track her down. Encourage your children not to fill out profile information, to delete email from senders they don’t know and never give anyone their password. Assist them in developing their screen names and e-mail addresses so that they do not provide predators with hints to their identity. Examples of some screen names to steer your children away from are: Mary_Smith, SweetGirl12, or Jennifer_luvs_HagertyHS. If someone is bothering your child on the internet, teach your child how to change their screen name or block that person. A good policy to have is to only let friends that they know join their Buddy List. Make sure that they check with their friend before adding friends of a friend to their list, as the friend may not know this person.
Most important of all, teach them never to meet anyone face to face that they only know from the internet. I understand that this is not a popular stance to take and you may run the risk of having your child sneak out and go anyway. Use your best judgment when deciding whether to let them go, you know your child best. Never let them go alone. Go with them and make sure that prior to the meeting that the chat buddy knows that you are going to be there. If this is a predator, they probably will not show if they know you are going to be there.
In today’s society, the internet plays a vital role in our children’s lives. In order to keep them safe in cyberspace, it is important that we provide them with the necessary tools and education about the dangers of the internet.
Talk to your children about ways that they can stay safe on the internet. They should not give anyone personal information or post pictures. Seemingly harmless pictures can provide predators with clues as to your child’s location. One girl posted a picture of her playing soccer for her eighth grade team. Using the colors and number on the uniform, and the town she was from, he was able to track her down. Encourage your children not to fill out profile information, to delete email from senders they don’t know and never give anyone their password. Assist them in developing their screen names and e-mail addresses so that they do not provide predators with hints to their identity. Examples of some screen names to steer your children away from are: Mary_Smith, SweetGirl12, or Jennifer_luvs_HagertyHS. If someone is bothering your child on the internet, teach your child how to change their screen name or block that person. A good policy to have is to only let friends that they know join their Buddy List. Make sure that they check with their friend before adding friends of a friend to their list, as the friend may not know this person.
Most important of all, teach them never to meet anyone face to face that they only know from the internet. I understand that this is not a popular stance to take and you may run the risk of having your child sneak out and go anyway. Use your best judgment when deciding whether to let them go, you know your child best. Never let them go alone. Go with them and make sure that prior to the meeting that the chat buddy knows that you are going to be there. If this is a predator, they probably will not show if they know you are going to be there.
In today’s society, the internet plays a vital role in our children’s lives. In order to keep them safe in cyberspace, it is important that we provide them with the necessary tools and education about the dangers of the internet.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Some Specific Suggestions to Keep your Child Safe in Cyber Space
It is important to set ground rules for computer use with your children to keep them safe when they’re on the internet, but be aware that you are bound to meet some resistance from them when doing this. Children view the internet as their playground and don’t want parents interfering with their fun. Parenting is not about being popular with your children, so stand firm about your ground rules for computer use. Some suggested ground rules: your child’s computer use should take place in a central location, not behind closed doors; set time limits; set limits to the sites that your child is allowed to visit as many are not age appropriate for young children; educate them about the dangers facing them on the internet including predators, and cyberbullying.
Keeping track of the sites that your children have been visiting may provide you with some peace of mind. This was an easy task to complete by going to the computer history but now many children are computer savvy enough to know how to go in and erase the history. Have no fear, the computer programmers have come to the rescue of parents everywhere. There are several types of software that can be purchase that will assist you in knowing where your children have been surfing and prevents them from altering it. In addition to this software there are parental controls on your computer that will prevent your children from going to sites that you don’t want them on. These controls are password sensitive so as long as you don’t make these passwords too obvious your children should not be able to override them.
Adults view pop ups and inappropriate material as an annoyance, children are curious about what they are. It is important to teach them not to click on pop ups because pop ups can download spyware, viruses or can link them to an inappropriate site. Many of the pop ups lure children in by suggesting that they have won something or will get something for free. It is important that you teach them nothing is ever free so that they will not be tempted to click on it. There are pop up blockers that you can install on your computer to help with this problem.
Today, it is necessary for children to do research on the internet. Be aware that these harmless searches can sometimes yield unexpected results. Here are some examples: when researching about the white house, one site that comes up is whitehouse.org which is a pornography site; when searching for information about Martin Luther King, a site that is suggested is martinlutherking.org which is a hate site. There are some search engines on the internet that are more kid friendly then BING or Google. One search engine that I would suggest is www.kidsclick.org. In addition, teach your children about how to find reputable sites when doing research.
Educate yourself on the terminology that children use when texting and instant messaging. We all know that LOL is laugh out loud and BRB is be right back, but did you know that p911 means parent alert or that PAL means that parents are listening. The list of these acronyms is extensive, become “Cyberspeak” savvy so you know what your children are saying.
My last piece of advice about keeping your children safe on the internet would be to educate yourself about all the things that are available. Get your own accounts on My Space, Facebook, Blogs and Tweeter, and learn how to use sites like I-Tunes, and E-Bay because that is what your children are doing. If you allow your children to access these sites, you might consider setting up the accounts for them so they need you to type in the password to gain access. This lets them know that you are monitoring everything that they are doing on the internet.
My next blog on this topic will be about keeping your children safe from “Cyberpredators”. It has become the latest way for pedophiles to find their next victim.
Keeping track of the sites that your children have been visiting may provide you with some peace of mind. This was an easy task to complete by going to the computer history but now many children are computer savvy enough to know how to go in and erase the history. Have no fear, the computer programmers have come to the rescue of parents everywhere. There are several types of software that can be purchase that will assist you in knowing where your children have been surfing and prevents them from altering it. In addition to this software there are parental controls on your computer that will prevent your children from going to sites that you don’t want them on. These controls are password sensitive so as long as you don’t make these passwords too obvious your children should not be able to override them.
Adults view pop ups and inappropriate material as an annoyance, children are curious about what they are. It is important to teach them not to click on pop ups because pop ups can download spyware, viruses or can link them to an inappropriate site. Many of the pop ups lure children in by suggesting that they have won something or will get something for free. It is important that you teach them nothing is ever free so that they will not be tempted to click on it. There are pop up blockers that you can install on your computer to help with this problem.
Today, it is necessary for children to do research on the internet. Be aware that these harmless searches can sometimes yield unexpected results. Here are some examples: when researching about the white house, one site that comes up is whitehouse.org which is a pornography site; when searching for information about Martin Luther King, a site that is suggested is martinlutherking.org which is a hate site. There are some search engines on the internet that are more kid friendly then BING or Google. One search engine that I would suggest is www.kidsclick.org. In addition, teach your children about how to find reputable sites when doing research.
Educate yourself on the terminology that children use when texting and instant messaging. We all know that LOL is laugh out loud and BRB is be right back, but did you know that p911 means parent alert or that PAL means that parents are listening. The list of these acronyms is extensive, become “Cyberspeak” savvy so you know what your children are saying.
My last piece of advice about keeping your children safe on the internet would be to educate yourself about all the things that are available. Get your own accounts on My Space, Facebook, Blogs and Tweeter, and learn how to use sites like I-Tunes, and E-Bay because that is what your children are doing. If you allow your children to access these sites, you might consider setting up the accounts for them so they need you to type in the password to gain access. This lets them know that you are monitoring everything that they are doing on the internet.
My next blog on this topic will be about keeping your children safe from “Cyberpredators”. It has become the latest way for pedophiles to find their next victim.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Keeping your Child Safe in Cyberspace
Before beginning on a series of blog postings that are going to suggest all the dangerous that face our children out there on the internet, I think it is important to make one point very clear: the internet is a wonderful information rich world that our children will need to be using in all facets of their life. I am not suggesting that you give in to your fear of the dangers of the internet and ban them from using it, just that you empower your children and yourselves by learning all you can about internet safety.
There are a multitude of reasons that children use the internet. This list of reasons is in no way complete, but I do believe that it gives us, as parents, a sense of what an important role the internet plays in our children's lives. Our children use the internet to research information for school projects, prepare for standardized tests using on-line preparation programs, visit educational websites, play games, e-mail, instant message, social network, chat, surf for information about things that interest them, shop, sell things, post videos, and blog. Since the internet is becoming so vital to the way our world works, it is becoming more important every day that we arm ourselves and our children on how to keep save out in cyberspace.
A few websites that I recommend that you visit are: www.isafe.org, www.netsmartz.org, and www.stobullyingnow.hrsa.org. I-safe is a website for parents and I recommend that you view the I-learn modules. I will warn you that some of the videos that were created are frightening. I think that occasionally it takes getting frightened to prompt us to act. After viewing them, you may want to share a few of the videos with your children as well. I have shown these videos to children ages 9 and above. The other two sites have information and activities for you and your children. The children that I know who have gone to these sites have really enjoyed them. I think the best way to learn something is if you have fun doing it.
There are a multitude of reasons that children use the internet. This list of reasons is in no way complete, but I do believe that it gives us, as parents, a sense of what an important role the internet plays in our children's lives. Our children use the internet to research information for school projects, prepare for standardized tests using on-line preparation programs, visit educational websites, play games, e-mail, instant message, social network, chat, surf for information about things that interest them, shop, sell things, post videos, and blog. Since the internet is becoming so vital to the way our world works, it is becoming more important every day that we arm ourselves and our children on how to keep save out in cyberspace.
A few websites that I recommend that you visit are: www.isafe.org, www.netsmartz.org, and www.stobullyingnow.hrsa.org. I-safe is a website for parents and I recommend that you view the I-learn modules. I will warn you that some of the videos that were created are frightening. I think that occasionally it takes getting frightened to prompt us to act. After viewing them, you may want to share a few of the videos with your children as well. I have shown these videos to children ages 9 and above. The other two sites have information and activities for you and your children. The children that I know who have gone to these sites have really enjoyed them. I think the best way to learn something is if you have fun doing it.
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