Now that we live in the digital age, chances are that your children will use the Internet throughout their lives both for work and play. Here are a few things you should teach them early to ensure good Internet security.
1. Keep Personal Details Secret Online
It’s important for children to learn the need for secrecy when browsing the web. Younger children especially tend to be automatically trusting of anyone they meet, especially in cyberspace. They need to understand to never give out their real name, their phone number, their address, or any other personal information on the Internet.
2. Never Meet Up With Strangers
Some kids, especially younger teenagers, might be tempted just to go off and meet someone they just met online since it seems like an adventure. But the problem is that this is exactly how a lot of predators work. If they can separate young people from the safety of society, they can do whatever they want.
And while meeting in a public place is important and could make meetings safer, it’s not always enough by itself. After all, if this is the only guideline you give your teen, they might meet a stranger in a public place and then immediately go off with them somewhere else when they ask.
The important thing is to get across the idea that they shouldn’t trust someone just because they seem nice on the Internet. It’s really easy to fake interactions that are text only.
3. Don’t Share Passwords
It can be tempting for young people to share screen names and passwords with each other since they want to share absolutely everything with their friends. But when young people share passwords, bad things often happen. Before long, half of the school could have access to sensitive information. Preventing this from happening by making sure young people understand why they shouldn’t do it will go a long way to preventing a disaster before it occurs.
Parents have a responsibility to guide kids into the digital world safely. As much as we try to enforce the rules set, we all know that rules have a tendency to get broken. Much like parents teach kids how to ride a bike and also employ the use of training wheels, it's a great idea to use a monitoring service like uKnowKids in addition to teaching them the ropes of Internet safety. With educational and preventative methods combined, parents can rest easy.
