Suggestions for Keeping your Children Safe Online

The internet, created just over 47 years ago, provides us with so many incredible learning opportunities on a day by day basis that it is hard to imagine a time when we could not go online and obtain information in seconds. However, along with its obvious benefits, the internet also can present a potentially harmful dark side, particularly for children.

Like adults, children are inquisitive, and their inquiring minds can take them far afield into danger. They love gadgets such as smart phones and tablets that provide them with easy rapid- fire responses. Now, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, school-age children are not in school and completing classes online. Their exposure to the internet has necessarily increased, presenting them with greater opportunity to roam on the internet. One of the many responsibilities parents have for their children is to employ measures designed to keep children safe and free from upsetting or scary information while they are online.

Here are some suggestions to protect your children from harmful sites and information while they are online:

1. Set parental controls on devices and/or the "apps" they use before your children have online access. You can research specific types of parental controls available for these devices, "apps", and for online games and for parental control gadgets which meet specific needs.
2. Build a rapport with your children so that they feel comfortable discussing what kind of information they can access online and what kind of information or sites to avoid.
3. Make sure that your children understand the dangers of sharing personal information such as their full name, age and address online. Information of this nature is never legitimately necessary to be obtained from a child and if it is requested, should be a red flag to you as a parent that your children are venturing onto online sites that pose a risk to them;
4. Make sure you have an "open-door policy" so that your children always know they can come to you if something on the internet scars them, makes them feel uncomfortable or upsets them.
5. Talk to your children about what apps they are using online and who they are sharing information with online.
6. Ensure that your children do not live-stream one-on-one with a stranger; and,
7. Discuss with your children the importance of turning off geographical location functions on the device so that they understand the information and their location is private and not to be shared with anyone without your consent.

Think about online safety for your children as another extension of the rules you all work within your home. If it is not okay in your home, it is certainly not okay online.

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