Protecting your Child on the Internet
In the 80’s and early 90’s children were just children. Children growing up at that time were more social than any social media today would ever be. There was no internet till children were old enough to access it, no social media, and no such thing as a “cyberbully” or even YouTube.
Fast forward few years from what I like to call the “golden era” to the “Internet age” and it’s a different story. Hide and seek and several other group activities with neighbors that used to be an actual means of socialization have been replaced by mobile devices and social media. Now our kids have more challenges than we ever had growing up –The internet!
While the internet is quite frankly an inevitable and important part of our lives today, unchecked access to the internet can be really harmful –especially for children!
It is now our responsibility as adults and parents to guide and if necessary shield the growing child from the ills they could be exposed to when accessing the internet because the truth is, regardless of how beneficial online activity can be to the child, it still poses certain threats to their upbringing.
In this article, parents would find working ways to protect children from these online threats, and would hopefully implement the ideas here to groom better, smarter children. Here’s our top five:
Monitor their online activities
It’s true that children feel “caged” when their parents are constantly “hovering over” them. In certain cases, they could even act out to express their disapproval or disappointments. But as parents who understand the importance of good parenting, these reactions should not deter you from monitoring your kids, especially their online activities. And a good way to effectively do that would be to install a parental control software on the devices your children use or access.
This way you can censor the content they view. To cushion the effects of the restraints you put up, tell them their activities are monitored but also explain why you are monitoring the content they view. Be sure to explain to them that as much as you trust them, you do not trust the strangers who can interface with them online.
You could contact your internet service provider for information on how to set up parental controls for your children.
When you are with them, be with them.
Children are able to access the internet and countless websites such as YouTube to watch their favorite cartoons and whatnot. How did they learn that? Well, the same way we learned to play hide and seek -instinctively!
However, this ability to navigate to any online platform could be rather dangerous especially when the parents are not with the every second of the day. Having said that, the wise thing to do as parents would be to spend as much time as you possibly can when they use the internet. Spending quality time with your children is not only a great time to teach them about good use of the internet but is also by extension a great way to bond with them.
Set up protective rules for children on social networks.
Social networking sites help our children stay up to date on information and more importantly, can be a means of keeping parents and their children connected when they are not together physically but social networks could also be used negatively by cyber bullies and predators and this exposes children to the risk of becoming subject to these threats.
This is why parents should set rules that protect their children when they use social networks. This could mean asking them to seek permission from you before accessing their social media accounts, giving you their login details and even adding you as their friend on every social media account they operate.
Caution them to avoid strangers.
Predators lurk around on the internet, taking advantage of unsuspecting children and it is our duty as parents to explain to children how people online could pretend to be something or someone they are not in person. Caution them against accepting requests, messaging or even talking to strangers (people they have not met in person). Get closer to your children and make sure they understand there is nothing they cannot share with you.
Talk to your kids about inappropriate content on the internet.
As delicate as the subject matter may seem, it is way better that your children hear about inappropriate content from you than to stumble on it by chance on the internet. It is better children say “Oh, here’s what Dad told me about” then scroll on than for children to say “What is this?” then get curious and yes they will get curious.
Parents often assume that discussing sex and pornography is abominable while other want to tell their kids about it but cannot find their way around such a conversation. Truth is, just say it because it’s only a matter of time before they stumble into it.
While parental controls lessen the risk of exposure, it does not totally cancel out the possibility that some questionable content would get through. So it’s best to talk about these topics, explaining your views and beliefs regarding inappropriate content to your children as best as you can. This way you can rest assured they would know how to handle anything they see online.
Finally, the internet clearly is here to stay and would not be leaving anytime soon. The best parental control software is to actually be a parent. Be there for your kids, spend quality time with them, get to know them and they wouldn’t consider talking to strangers.