Internet Safety: Tips for Keeping Kids Safe Online

We have arrived at the season that can inspire considerable joy and fear. Yay! You can take that family vacation. Yelp! Your children are always around—and seeking entertainment. You may be asking yourself: How in the heck am I going to occupy my offspring all summer long? And, egads! How can I keep them out of trouble?

For many American kids, summer vacation means more time spent online. Appropriately, June marks National Internet Safety Month, which has a range of groups rolling out advice to empower parents and children in the virtual world.

First, a tiny perspective. Internet use comes with risks, but they may not be the ones you imagine. The fear of sexual predators online, for example, may be inflated. Among the 50,000 arrests made in child molestation cases in 2009, only 850, or less than 2 percent of them, involved offenders who met the victim online, states David Finkelho, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. It’s possible, he argues, that the Internet has enabled more intervention of such crimes. In any case, the vast majority of sexual abuse cases are perpetrated by acquaintances or family members of the victim. “Far greater concerns are things like cyberbullying,” oversharing, spending excessive time online, and simple access to mature material, states Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, an international non-profit that works to make Internet use safer for children and families.

At the same time, let’s not forget the sheer wealth of educational and social-enrichment opportunities afforded by the Internet. So how do you guide children through that morass? It’s not easy. Especially since there is still so much we need to comprehend about the impact of these technologies and so-called “screen time,” states Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), which provides homes, schools, and businesses with tools to secure on-line activity. As a result, parents are often left comparing notes on the playground and making their ideal calls, even as wired devices like smart phones and tablets increasingly find their way into younger hands, Kaiser says.

[See: 6 Dangerous Games Your Kids Should Avoid]

Meanwhile, experts offer plenty of tips to help parents protect and support their children’s on-line activity.

1. Talk to your kids. “One of the ideal practices is one of the oldest practices in the world,” Balkam says. “Talk to your children early and often about being safe online.” Kaiser emphasizes “positive engagement.” That means asking your children about the websites they like just as you’d ask about their recent baseball game. Parents should also teach their children about the potential hazards of links, downloads, and sharing too much information online, he says. If a threat emerges, help your child devise a response, such as blocking communication or filing a report.

But what if you discover inappropriate behavior by your own kid? Then what? Assume a “dispassionate cop” persona, Balkam says. “Stay really cool and calm, and just go through what the facts are as you see them, how that piece of behavior or posting made you feel, and explain what you want from them going forward. And if it requires a sanction, like privileges are taken away for a day or two, well, then give them a sanction,” he says. “Parenting has never been easy,” and it has become “a lot more complicated in the digital age.”

[See: Mastering MySpace Dangers: 10 Tips for Concerned Parents ]

2. Secure your equipment. “Having the latest security software, Web browser, and operating system are the ideal defenses against viruses, malware [malicious software], and other on-line threats,” according to Stop Think Connect, a public-service campaign led by the NCSA and Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Be sure to use software that updates automatically and secure all other devices that connect to the Internet and your computer. These measures also help protect against children’s identity theft, which Kaiser calls an “emerging” threat.

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Submited at Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 at 4:00 am on Uncategorized by hilman
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