As parents, we’re all concerned with our children’s safety online (as well as everyone else’s children!) We have all see the news stories, and read about children who are preyed upon by online predators, sometimes with tragic consequences. It can be a frightening thought for parents, knowing what could possibly happen.
Here are a few quick and easy tips for helping to keep our kids’ safe, and making online time fun and educational. These tips are nothing new, and we’ve heard and seen them many times and many different places, but they’re so important, they cannot be stated enough:

1. Learn about computers, if you don’t already have an idea. If necessary, sit with them and watch what they do. You’ll be amazed what you can learn by watching.
2. Talk to other parents at work, church, or friends and family. Ask them for some suggestions or tips. It’s amazing what we learn by asking others.
3. Search on the internet for ideas and programs. There are a multitude of internet sites that will give you tips and trick, as well as links to software. Try Googling “keeping kids safe online” and see everything that comes up!
4. Always put your computer in a central room, such as a family room or living room. Allowing kids to have a computer in their rooms where you can’t monitor it is asking for trouble. My daughter had hers in her room for awhile, and I woke up at 3 in the morning one time to ‘tap tap tap” on her keyboard. It never occurred to me that she was staying up half the night, because she had been in bed earlier. What a wake-up call that was (literally!!).
5. Look at the browser history and bookmarks. See where they have been. If you’re unsure of how to do this, look at the help for Internet Explorer or Firefox.
6. Take a look at your kids “MySpace” or “Facebook” pages. Make your own page so you can be “added” as their friends. You don’t have to have too much on your page, but this is an excellent way to see the page, and see who their friends are.
7. Talk with your kids. They have heard about the dangers of the internet. Tell them again… and again…it doesn’t hurt, and it’s very important that they realize the true dangers, and that it “can happen to them”. Remind them about never EVER giving out personal information, such as last name, address, phone number, and even the city you live in. Online predictors are smart.
8. I know there are parents that will disagree with me on this next one, but I installed online keyboard monitoring on the computer, so I could capture my kids keystrokes and conversations. I almost fell over when I saw the things they were talking about, and the sites they visited. Many internet providers have some sort of “Parental Controls”. Check with yours, they’ll be more than happy to help you out.

I know that there are parents that say they respect their kids’ privacy, and would never “spy” on them. I feel that is it not only my right as a parent but my RESPONSIBILITY to be nosy and ask questions and watch what they’re doing. An excellent site I found is Safekids. They offer very comprehensive information on making the internet fun and safe, as well as a lot of resources for parents.

Remember, it’s up to us to keep our kids safe, and hopefully these are some general guidelines. I’d love to hear other’s suggestions, I know that parents can come up with some unique ways to do this, care to share?