Internet Safety: Seeking Solutions to Protect our Kids

The internet is a potential goldmine of resources for parents and teachers alike when it comes to educating and entertaining kids in positive ways. But it also contains negative and even dangerous content that children can be exposed to if parents are not aware of what sites their kids are visiting. Negative content includes violent video games, hate sites, commercial sites that try to scam youth and sites with sexually explicit content. Teens are in the most danger of being exposed to adverse influences on the internet. They generally have unlimited access to websites and they are internet savvy. Often shocking videos and the like get spread among teens to gage reactions. But teenagers are not the only age group that can be exposed to detrimental content. Younger kids can wind up on the wrong website by accident, inappropriate advertisements can make their way onto children's websites, and offensive pop-ups can find their way onto a children's web page. The internet is full of means by which a younger child can be exposed to objectionable material. So what can a parent do to protect his or her child? Solutions to these problems vary. For younger children technology has spoken and its voice has been heard. There is one website TJ & Pals, that has developed a Safe-Play option. TJ's Club allows the user to avoid the web browser completely. This enables the child to access their TJ & Pals from their desktop without going into their browser and eliminates all fears of the child being exposed to other websites, advertisements, or worse. A parent can safely fold her laundry, do her dishes, or even relax for a few moments while the child plays on TJ & Pals without fear of her son or daughter clicking onto another website or seeing an advertisement he or she should not be viewing. TJ & Pals is the first to develop this technological tool as an internet safety solution. Perhaps others will follow. For older kids, technology has not quite caught up. Internet filters are very popular, but most teens can get around them. If a parent elects to utilize a filter for his elementary age children he should discuss his decision with them. Kids should understand the potential dangers involved in using the internet. The computer should be placed in a public room in the house. It should not bernin a child's bedroom. A parent should spend time with his child on the computer. He should learn his or her favorite sites. He should make sure his child knows never to give her real name, address, or phone number to anyone over the internet. Provide the child with a pseudo name to use. Apparently two out of every five teens provide their actual names of the cities they live on social networking sites. One half post their real age. It is critical that kids know they should never provide true information on these sites. A parent should encourage his child or teen to tell him if someone or something online makes her feel uncomfortable. It's important to keep the lines of communication open between the child and the parent. Make sure that the teen never meets an onlinern friend. Try to keep tabs on the websites the teen is visiting. Microsoft and the American Academy of Pediatricians have come up with a list of internet safety guidelines for kids of all age ranges. It is clear from their safety guidelines that open communications between parent and child is of primary importance. Discussing the potential dangers and the necessary steps the child should take to protect herself is the number one thing a parent can do to empower his kids. Microsoft does have safety tools to filter the internet. For more information, see Windows Live Family Safety, Windows 7 Parental Controls, or Windows Vista Parental Controls. It also has a tool to protect children from offensive pop-ups. The tool is built in to Internet Explorer. The internet can be a magical place for kids to explore. TJ & Pals has set the bar for internet safety tools for younger children. Until we find the appropriate technological tools for internet safety for older kids we need to institute careful parenting procedures when it comes to our children's use of the internet.