As parents, you try to protect your children from the day they are born. From teaching them how to cross the street to using sunscreen when they go outside in the sun. Now they have entered a different world of being online.
Over the last year and a half, the increase in internet use has made it even harder to protect them from bullies, predators, and inappropriate content online.
Ten things that parents can do to keep their kids safe online
Talk openly with your child about their online activity-You should start talking with them as soon as they begin to use the internet. Not only ask but look with them. As they grow and get older, continue to talk and work with them on the internet to make sure that you know where they are going and what they are seeing.
Keep screens and devices where you can see them.-Having the computers or devices in an area that you can view will allow you to keep an eye on what they are doing and what sites they are going to. Some parents also try to make it so that there are no tablets, laptops, and gaming in a bedroom. Another thing that you can do is check the browsing history after they have been online. But as they get older, this will get harder as they will learn how to clear their histories.
Know your parental controls-Sometimes we mistype a word and get something completely different from what we are looking for. So if you have turned on the parental controls, you can help these accidents from happening. These are not 100% perfect. So you will still need to be careful. Some of these are offered by web browsers, internet service providers,s and on some devices.
Know your child's online friends-Friends that your children have in person may not be the same ones they have online. One way to do this would be to make sure that you are their friend on social media.
Be "share aware" to protect your privacy- Something that I think is good for all people would be to take a minute before posting anything to social media would be to ask ourselves if we want to give this information to a stranger. We are talking about some information about name, phone number, home address, email name of the school, or photo. Another way with children is to ask them to share with you before they decide to post.
Keep control of your family's digital footprint- Remember to keep everyone on the same page when posting to social media will help keep your digital footprint from being spread all over the internet. One way you can do this would be to only post photos and personal information to selective people and use the privacy setting on all social media platforms.
Teach your children to keep their location private-You will find that most apps today and devices have geotagging on them, which keeps track of where you are. Not only does it track where you are, but it also does time and date. These are things we don't want or need to have someone have unless it is the parents. So I would tell children and adults not to but turn these on.
Keep track of online time-After this past year and with the new school year, starting tracking online time is more critical. It is recommended that children only have 2 hours of screen time a day if they are older less than younger. But this may not be the case with remote learning. So try to set a time that limits online use when not doing school work. Some people have set up what they call "screen-free" when the family does other activities that do not allow technology to be in use.
Be Social Savvy- Keeping the lines of communication open is an excellent way to start. You are making sure that your child knows what to do if they are having a problem. If they are setting up their social media that they have the privacy setting set to protect them. Also, teach them how to report something if they are being bullied or have a problem.
Lead by example-Most likely; you have heard the before leading by example. It is the best advice. Most children will copy what they see their parents or the adults in their life do.
Following these ten steps will help your child, and yourself build a safe way to use the internet. These are items that can be done for everyone in the house, not just the children. We sometimes forget that it is important to keep information to ourselves. Also, it is great to want to share with family and friends, but we don't want to share everything.
I try to tell my customers that if it is online, it does not make it accurate. Please remember to protect yourself and your family. If you have any questions about online security for your children at any time, ask yourself if you would put that out there? If you have a question about privacy settings or online safety, give us a call.