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How to explain internet safety to children?

Do you know what your child is doing online?

30 percent have used the internet in ways their parents wouldn’t approve
21 percent have visited sites where they can chat with strangers
17 percent have visited porn sites
11 percent have visited sites that offer ways to cheat on homework
4 percent have visited online gambling sites

Source: Children’s Internet Usage Study, Center for Cyber Safety and Education

Children are very frequently using the internet these days to play games and gather information for homework. They are innocent and are not aware of online dangers. They need to be taught about using the internet responsibly. Parents play an important role to explain internet safety to children. They are the ones who can protect their children from the dangers of the digital world.

1. As a parent you should explain internet safety to children. For this you first need to equip yourself with necessary knowledge about the internet, online dangers and how to stay safe online. For kids online safety, you need to know about cyberbullying, phishing, malware, online scams and identity theft. It is only when you are aware of the online dangers you can properly teach your kids about it.

2. Speak to your child on a one-to-one basis about online dangers and explain internet safety to them. If you are worried that your child might be facing bullying or he/she may be posting inappropriate content, then ask them ‘Would you be happy if your grandmother sees this?’ It will convey the message that anything you say online can potentially be seen by anyone.

3. Check your child’s browsing behaviour and know about the websites they visit. Know about the privacy settings and how to block someone or report abuse. Teach these functions to your child. Explain internet safety to children by telling them to not click on the “stuff” on the sides of webpages, like ads or off-site links, without permission. Teach your child to always ask permission before downloading or uploading things. They might click some ad/link which can lead to malware download that can risk privacy or damage to the computer.

4. Advice your kids on password usage. In order to explain internet safety to kids, tell them to keep their passwords to themselves and not to share it with anyone except a parent. Advice them to change the password often. A good password is a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters that you can remember but is really hard for anyone else to guess.

5. For kids internet safety, advice not to give away personal information online like home address, school name, phone number can be risky. Advice your child to choose a nickname and be anonymous. Advice your kids to only talk to those people whom they know. Also, while using social media or online messaging, make your profile private and only add your friends in real life. Ask them to talk to parents or a trusted adult before chatting with people that the child doesn’t know. This is to ensure internet safety of children.

6. Explain internet safety to children by encouraging them to use safe search engines such as SafeSearchEngine.com to keep them away from inappropriate adult content. Child-friendly Safe Search Engines like SafeSearchEngine.com provides kids with a safe environment for searching on the web, which is essential for the internet safety for children. You can also add safe search engine extension to your browser.