Federal Bureau of investigation has recently estimated that more than one million pedophiles online on any given day at any given time, your child has one of the four possible approached in online chat rooms or via instant messaging.
Even worse, if your child has a my space.com account, where they have posted pictures of themselves, the possibility of such contact increased dramatically.
Long gone are the days when parents can allow the computer to be an unsupervised activity. But as a parent, it is not always easy to know how best to handle a certain situation or what you have to lay down guidelines for your child to follow.
To protect your children, we have put together some simple guidelines that are easy to follow by both parents and children alike. We call the top 10 Internet safety tips that you can and should share with your child.
In the interest of online safety for your child, teach them to:
- First and foremost is to get them to always use the internet a "screen name". Never reveal your real name, where you go to school, what your phone number or phone number where you live.
- Always tell mom / dad if they receive ANY email or instant messaging, or chat that they find frightening, disappointing or make them uncomfortable in any way.
- Never respond to emails or messages threatening. Instead, they should save the message as a text file into a special folder on their desktop, so mom and dad can take the appropriate action. When Contacting the authorities. When contacting the authorities.
- Do not trade or post personal photos in the mail or over the Internet. If they do post personal pictures on their personal blog or my space account, make sure that the image does not reveal background information in the online predators that might provide clues about where your child lives or what they go to school.
- Never agree to meet anyone in real life that they have met in a chat room or online. This is one of the most dangerous thing you can do the child. If they really want to meet someone, they should be willing to let you chat with the first individual, and go with them to oversee the meeting.
- Never tell anyone your password or login info or they. do so can cause untold problems for you and your child. It's not uncommon to catch the bad people and personal information online pretending to be your child.
- Never accept an invitation to enter a private chat room. Remember, because of the anonymity that the Internet provides, your child has no real way of knowing who is really at the other end of the connection check that the new chat buddy may say that they are a girl of 15 years. Just wanted to talk privately, but realistically, it's likely someone trying to get your child alone. So they can ask them for sex, either online or off.
- Do not accept everything someone says online. People lie - make sure your child knows this. Once again, the Internet provides a way for anyone to pretend to be someone else that they want. Just because something is said does not make it online .. correct
- Do not ever receive the message "Instant" from strangers or chat with one online. Doing so could open your child's computer to attack by malicious hackers or viruses. At least, it opens the door for strangers to get closer to your child
- Do not ever tell anyone how old you are. we do not say that they have lied about their age, we simply say that they do not have to tell how old they are one way or the other. If your child does not find themselves being asked to be sexual or vulgar, they should notify you immediately.
- Teach them to tell you if they have friends "new," have them introduce to your friends online. if the person on the other end is legitimately another child who has your child's online friends, should have no problem with them agreeing discount with your parents
- Always get permission from Mom or Dad before using the computer. As crazy as it sounds, parents now routinely use the computer as a babysitter uncomfortable, unaware of the dangers their children face when they log on line.
Make sure your child knows that they do not use a computer without your permission. In fact, if your child has their own computer in their own room consider moving to a more general spaces such as family room
