Tuesday 13 September 2011

When Your Children Are Surfing The Internet You Need To Make Sure They Are Safe

By Carlos Montebello Xavier


Children like to explore and push parents to the limit, so being a policeman while they surf the internet will probably bring the wrong results. How do you know what they are doing without watching them? Hopefully your children have enough common sense to avoid trouble, and then you will have no trouble trusting them. However, you also have to provide some guidance at times. The rest of this article will offer help for giving your children a measure of freedom when they are online, and also give them some protection.

Anonymous predators are not always the cause of the problems, it can also be other children from the same school, or neighborhood, as your child. Bullying and harassment that occurs online is described as cyber- bullying now. This can be done via emails, instant messages or on social networks. Due to these tactics, there are stories of children being driven to suicide.

While many kids are approached by potential predators online, in most cases nothing comes of it, as long as the child knows enough not to respond. Yet, you should be alert to any warning signs in case the wrong person has somehow succeeded in making contact with your child.

Making your children feel safe and secure takes a balanced effort. Too much supervision and being overprotective will cause your children to look for other ways to do what they want. For example, if you try to prevent your child from going online at all, this will only make the whole world of cyberspace seem more attractive and exciting. Maybe it is up to the parents to protect their children, but there are times when it just isn't possible. You don't need to watch every keystroke, but it would be nice to know your children's online friends and also their activities. It's better to teach your kids to be sophisticated enough that they know better than to become victims.

Many predators are lurking in chatrooms, and plenty of other places, with the sole purpose of seeking out children. Any child going into a public chatroom more than likely will be contacted by a predator, according to the FBI. This is sad but true fact of modern life. That's why you shouldn't let younger children enter chatrooms at all, especially when you're not nearby to supervise. Children should never give out any personal information or photographs, and even older children should never believe a person's identity at face value. AIM or AOL Instant Messenger is another area you should pay attention to, because next to chatrooms this is the next likely place for predators. Just being ever vigilant towards your kids and their web applications can let you rest at ease. Of course you want your children to develop a certain amount of independence, but when it pertains to the internet, there is a level of danger that needs to be addressed. As long as you keep a watchful eye over your kids' internet activities, you should be able to feel confident that all will be well.

An effective way to develop a positive family environment is to take plenty of pictures of your kids and put them up throughout the house. This could be relatively inexpensively if you possess the right kind of printing device. To make certain, talk with your neighborhood personal computer shop today.




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