A Parents Guide to Kids Safety on the Web
The kids and parents of today’s generation face a number of challenges which are far different from previous generations. Children of today have access to a variety of online sources of information, socialization and entertainment. With sites such as You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and other Internet web sites, people can interact with others without the need to be in the area. With these sites, people can connect with people young and old from anywhere in the world.This is definitely true for children as well as adults. A recent study shows that 80% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 are on the Internet at least once per week. This trend continues through the teen-aged years as well. In addition to surfing the web, children use online methods to play games, communicate with text and email, watch movies and a variety of other things. These are terrific vehicles to communicate or for entertainment, however, they are not without potential pitfalls.With the increase in online usage of children, the problems of cyberbullying, cyberstalking, child exploitation and more have become more prominent. Because of these problems, parents and children must be aware of the potential dangers and what to look for while online. Children need to be alert to problem areas and if the feel that they are in a bad situation, they must tell their parents. On the other hand, parents need to monitor the online activity of their children, and be on guard to potential trouble situations. The bottom line is that both parents and children need to work together to remain safe.
Kids Online Usage- Kids and the Internet – Useful page which provides a summary on how kids use the internet.
- Online Usage – Helpful New York Times article which outlines the variety of ways that children are online.
- Online Security Basics – Web page which provides kids with the basics of Internet safety.
- Negative Effects – Information on how Internet usage could be a block to the development of your child.
- Children on the Internet – Informative study which gives an overview on the usage of the Internet by children.
- Using the Internet – Article which states that parents should wait until children are 13 to have them use the Internet alone.
Social Media Usage- Monitoring Social Media – Article which provides 13 tips for parents on how to monitor children social media usage.
- Children and Social Media – Informative article which discusses the usage of social media by children.
- Social Media Habits – Useful article which discusses the difficulty in reviewing the habits of social media of children.
- Pros and Cons – Helpful page which lists the pros and cons of teenagers and social networking.
- Facebook Pros and Cons – Useful article for parents which gives pros and cons on children having access to Facebook.
- Teens and Social Networking – Listing of 30 statistics about the usage of social media by teenagers and children.
Protecting Kids Online- Internet Safety – Basic information on how to help kids be safe while being online.
- Kids Safety Tips – Informative and educational page by the FBI which provides information on how kids can be safe online.
- Online Safety Resources – Information for parents and kids on how to educate kids on how to be safe online.
- Internet Safety – Parent guide on how kids can be taught to be safe during online browsing.
- Internet Child Safety – Portal of information for parents and children which deal with topics on online safety.
- Rules for Online Safety – Tips for parents on what they can do to help keep young children safe online.
Cyberbullying- Cyberbullying – Informative government page which discusses the growing problem of cyberbullying among children.
- Cyberbullying Information – Useful web page which covers the crime of intimidating and bullying online.
- State Cyberbullying Laws (PDF) – Helpful article which provides a summary of the various laws pertaining to Cyberbullying that have been passed by states.
- What is Cyberstalking? – Web page which approaches the issues of cyberstalking and provides a description.
- Online Harassment and Cyberstalking Statistics – A look at the statistical growth in the problems of online harassment.
- Cyberstalking and Cyberharrassment Laws – Information on the legal protections that are in place to prevent online stalking and harassment.
What Parents Can Do We hope this information is helpful in keeping your children safe while online. Feel free to return to this page at your leisure and review this information, and help keep your kids safe online!Author:
Michael Leng