If your child likes to go online and search for information they are just like every other kid in the world. Gone are the days when kids go their information from encyclopedias and books. At this point in time, everybody is using the internet to find what they need; and this is especially true when it comes to the younger generation.
But before you let your children aim freely online, make sure that you teach them the three areas detailed below.
Does your child’s school have a class that teaches them about the internet? Do you know what they learn in that class? These are two very important questions to ask yourself. Even though you did not have classes on the internet when you were young, this does not mean that your children don’t.
Do you use the website MySpace? If so, what do you have posted for your picture? Or how about your profile? When getting started with MySpace, a lot of people make the mistake of including a picture or profile that is just begging for trouble.
When it comes to the latest and greatest on the internet, the new rage is MySpace. This is a site where people from all over the world can connect with each other via the web. As opposed to an instant messaging program, MySpace allows the user to post pictures as well as detailed information.
There are several things a parent can do to keep their children safe on the Internet, such as bringing the computer that the children use into a common area, such as den, living room or kitchen, where someone else is either present or nearby.
20 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 have been the victims of unsolicited sexual advances online. Three fourths of them never tell their parents or another adult. Seven out of ten of these advances occur on the children’s home computer. What’s scariest, is that many of these, after lengthy and multiple online conversations that gain the child’s trust, finally culminate in a face to face meeting.
