Protecting Your Kids on the Internet

by Kisha Geijer

Although the internet is a valuable resource, both for research and for keeping in touch with family and friends, it can potentially be a dangerous place, especially for children. Parents must learn to protect their kids online just as they do offline, but it can be difficult to understand what they need to be guarded against and how to do so effectively.

First, a look at the dangers. Unfortunately, we've all heard the stories of strangers luring children into a real-life meeting for all the wrong reasons, but thankfully, not all the dangers are that extreme. Still, your children can easily access inappropriate material, from violence to hate speech to pornography. Just as in real life, they may make friends online that will prove to be a bad influence on them. And further, your kids aren't the only ones that can be in danger from their internet usage. When I was young, I thought that things were free if my parents used a check or credit card to pay for them--your kids could easily decide to use the credit card from your wallet to buy any number of things online. (I suspect that this would only happen until you got the next bill!) They might also be prone to opening email attachments, which can contain viruses. Knowing that these dangers exist is the first step in making sure your children do not become a statistic.

There are three main keys to protecting your children online.

Education: This is the most important thing you can do for your child. Teach them about the dangers, and talk to them about how to handle different situations that they might encounter. Explain why it's inappropriate for them to see the things you object to. They should never be allowed to give out their real name, password, location or other personal details about themselves. Anonymity is just one form of protection.

Supervision: If at all possible, keep the computer in an accessible part of the house. Young children might need hands-on supervision, but older children will probably be alright just knowing that you're nearby and can see what they're doing. Know who they're talking to and what they're talking about. This doesn't stop at home, though. Make sure you know where your child might access the internet--at school, at a library, at a friend's house, and let them know that the rules you've established at home apply outside the home. Establish time limits on usage--as useful as the internet can be, allowing it to become too important in your child's life is dangerous.

Restriction: The last part of the strategy involves restricting access for your kids. There are many software packages that accomplish this, so you will need to find the one that most meets your own personal needs. You can compare different software at kids.getnetwise.org/tools/ to find which package contains all the requirements that you need. Things that you need to keep in mind when you use these tools is that they're not completely foolproof, so education and supervision are still the keys to success. They might allow search engine results to come through (though the actual sites might be blocked) or they might not be set to block newer sites.

This is by no means an exhaustive approach to make sure your kids are safe, but it will hopefully be enough to get you started. The links in the sidebar lead to other sites where you can do more research on the topic.