We all want the best for our children, including the ability to leverage technology. However, technology comes with risks that our children are often not aware of or prepared to deal with. It is our responsibility to ensure our children understand these risks and how to protect themselves.
To protect your children, you have to first understand the dangers they face online:
- Strangers
This is one of the most common threats parents think of when wanting to protect their kids online. In this context, strangers are individuals who establish online relationships with your children in order to take advantage of them, such as sexual predators.
- Friends
These are the people your children already know, often other kids at school. Friends can post a threat as online bullies. The internet amplifies the bullying issue, as bullies can post harassing messages to the entire world or hijack your child’s identity online. In addition, bullies can launch these attacks anonymously, making them harder to track down and stop.
- Themselves
Anything they post is accessible not only to the entire world, but once posted may be difficult or impossible to remove. Your children may not realize how these postings can impact their future. Anything embarrassing or illegal posted by or about your children can negatively impact their future.
Now that you understand the key risks, here are steps you can take to defend against them:
- Education
The most important step you can take is to make sure your children understand these threats and that you are always talking to them about their online activities, staying current with what they are doing. Create an environment where your children feel comfortable coming to you with questions or problems they may have online.
- Social Networking
Track what your children are doing online by creating your own accounts on social networking sites, and then have your children invite you so you can follow what they publish.
- Rules
Create a document that identifies the rules you expect your children to follow when online. Rules can include when they can use technology, for how long, what games or apps they can and cannot play, and what they can and cannot post online.
Read the article online at SecuringtheHuman.org
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