What Parents Need to Know to Keep Kids Safe Online

Teens, and sometimes kids even younger are creating personal Web pages, chatting online, joining forum conversations, blogging online and even posting photos. This would be a great thing in a perfect world, but this is not a perfect world. There are a lot of bad people out there that are searching for your children online.

While it's nice that kids are able to keep in touch with friends, meet new friends around the world and express themselves online, they need to be aware of the dangers of the Internet. You, as their parent, need to be aware of things they should and should not be doing online. You need to prepare them for the dangers and make them aware of what they can and can't do on the Net.

Just like the real world there are dangerous people and you need to be proactive in watching out for them. By talking to your kids and being proactive in their online lives you can help keep them safe.


Personal Web Sites

When a person creates a personal Web site they often want the Web site to reflect who they are. They post their name, what country and part of the country they are from, where they work or go to school and other personal information. It's important to tell about yourself on your personal Web site, but posting too much information is just plain dangerous.

When kids create a personal Web site they should not post certain information:

• Email addresses




• Full name




• Address and phone number




• Name of school or work place




• Full names of friends or family




• City or town they live in




• Places they like to go




• Don't talk badly about your friends, school, etc. Your friends/school may find out.




• Don't talk about bad things you've done. Other people you know may be reading it.

Chatting

When chatting online people often give out way too much information. The people they are chatting with want to know who they are talking to.  If they start asking for personal information, log off.

Here are some things you should tell your kids to do when they are chatting online:

• Don't give out personal information, even when asked (see list above).




• If the person you are chatting with starts asking for personal information, log off.