MAKING YOUR HOME INTERNET SAFE

Today’s children spend more time on the Internet than on the playground. They do their homework online, play video games, post Instant Messages, send and receive e-mails and text messages, upload photos, download music and network, network, network. In the process they are exposed to opportunities and risks that are without precedent.

The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 70 percent of all teenagers, 15 to 17 years of age, have accidentally come across pornography on the Internet. One in five children, who enter computer chat rooms, has been approached over the Internet by pedophiles.

Many parents feel uncomfortable talking with their kids about S-E-X and others have the mistaken notion that they are prying into their kids’ personal affairs when they monitor computer use. But the reality is that the cursor on your computer screen could be pointing your kids in the wrong direction right now – without you realizing it. Thirty-eight percent of students in middle school and high school hide their online activities from their parents.      

Chances are, your kids know more about the computer than you do, but they need your worldly wisdom and guidance to avoid the pitfalls of pornographers and pedophiles.

Here are ten things you can do to make your home Internet-safe for your children:

1. Keep the computer in an area of your house where you can oversee your children’s use of the Internet.
2. Use parental controls and filtering to block dangerous sites. While filters aren’t perfect, they do screen out most offensive content. Periodically, use the computer’s tool bar to check what sites the children have been visiting.
3. Make sure the children never send photos of themselves or other family members to someone they’ve met on the Internet. Spot-check their e-mail. Make sure they report any spam to the browser service.
4. Set time limits on the use of the computer. When you leave the house or go to bed at night, the computer should be turned off.
5. Prohibit your children from entering chat rooms where pedophiles often lurk and pretend to be kids.
6. Make sure your children agree to never meet in person with anyone they’ve met on the Internet, nor divulge personal information such as their name, address, phone number, passwords, age, school, extra-curricular activities or where you work.
7. Make sure you know the children’s logon names and passwords. Meet and approve of the friends whose names appear on your their Instant Messenger lists.
8. Establish a set of rules governing use of the Internet at locations outside the home such as school, libraries and the homes of friends. Role-play with your children so they know what to say and do when they find themselves in an awkward situation at a friend’s home.
9. Review all the video games and DVDs that your children have to make sure the content is acceptable to you and has not been pirated.
10. Play video games with your kids to establish their trust and to find out about the sites they like to visit.

If you encounter sexually obscene material, notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s  Cyber Tipline .