Staying Safe on the Internet

The Internet is a wonderful resource for adults and children alike. Whether you're on-line for work or play, Internet safety is a must. Although adults know that the Internet can sometimes be unsafe, children may not. It's important that parents are educated and know all the dangers that come along with exploring the World Wide Web so they can teach their children about Internet safety.

Internet predators aren't what most people envision them to be. They aren't 50 year old men that are overweight and extremely unattractive. Instead they are as young as 18 years old trying to prey on innocent children. They disguise themselves by using a different name, age, and physical appearance so that they can lure children into their web of deception.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited children found (in 2006) that youth Internet users, over a period of five years increased in encountering unwanted sexual material from 25% to 34%. On-line harassment went from 6 to 9%, and 4% of all youth Internet users said that on-line solicitors asked them for nude pictures of themselves. In addition to this, one third of child solicitations were aggressive, which means that the predator made an attempt to contact the child off-line.

The average household has at least one computer but some families have 2 PC's, with one of them located in a child's bedroom. Now this sounds harmless, but it's important to monitor a child's use of the Internet. You must see what they are doing, what sites they are visiting, and who (if anyone) they are talking to, so putting the computer in a common area will allow you to supervise your children at all times. Yes, they may not like the idea of having their computer in the family room and will no longer have their privacy, but their safety is more important than anything.