How to protect kids online?

Parents need to set strict rules to protect kids online. These rules protect them from inappropriate content, cyberbullies, identity thieves and child predators. Parents should be aware of what their kids see and hear on the Internet, who they meet, and what they share about themselves. The below mentioned tips would help to protect kids on the internet:

1. Start discussing online safety at an early age.

Sooner or later all children use the internet. So why not start teaching them about the dangers of the digital world before they even start using it in order to protect kids online. Highlight the fact that the online world parallels the real world and that there are both safe and unsafe things out there. Teach them about the importance of using passwords for security.

2. Keep your eyes on your kids at all times when they are online.

For kids protection from online predators parents should supervise them or sit near the child each and every time they are on the internet browsing the web.

3. Teach them to keep personal information private.

For online kids protection, it is important to advise them to never reveal their real name, home address, school name, where they hang out or play.

4. Make use of Online Protection Tools for online child protection.

In order to protect kids online from its threats there are parental control options available with many internet service providers (ISPs). It controls your kids’ access to adult material and helps in protecting them from Internet predators. You can also get software that helps block access to sites and restricts personal information from being sent online.

5. Observe any warning signs of a child being targeted by an online predator.

To protect kids on the internet, observe their behaviour. Spending long hours online, phone calls from strangers, your child suddenly turning off the computer when you walk into the room, reluctance to discuss online activities are some warning signs not to be missed.

6. If you wouldn’t do it face to face – Don’t do it online.

This is a safe principle to be taught to kids while they are using the internet. This will help to protect kids online. Teach them that everything that is captured on the web stays there forever. Tell them that the online world is still the real world and they should behave as they would behave with a person during a face to face conversation.

7. Become friends and contacts in your child’s social media.

For online child safety, as a parent you should become friends and contacts within your child’s social media circles. Also make sure that  you monitor their posts. In case your child resists you can tell them that this is one of the conditions for you to allow them access.

8. Anything that is put online should be assumed to be permanent.

For online child safety, teach them to be careful before sharing information online as the information stays permanently on the web and it can be misused. To protect kids online, teach them that disclosing things like passwords or other sensitive information in response to an email, text, IM or social networking message can be dangerous.

9. Follow the same rules in the digital world that you would follow in the real world.

To protect kids on the internet, teach your kids that the rules for online and real world are the same and just because they are sitting in front of a computer screen does not mean that the rules will change. Tell them to ask parents or a trusted adult if they are not sure about something and if anything ‘unusual’ happens when they are online.

To protect kids online they should be encouraged to use safe search engines such as SafeSearchEngine.com to keep them away from inappropriate adult content.

You can easily add SafeSearchEngine.com extensions to your browser. SafeSearchEngine.com has extensions for all the popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera etc.

Please click on ‘Try Search’ to see SafeSearchEngine.com in action, or click on ‘Make Default Search Engine’ to add it to your browser.

Don’t forget to share among your friends.

Happy Safe Searching!