Educate Your Child Before They Use the Internet

The Internet has become an important every aspect of our daily lives. Children of today have never really known life without the Internet, and everyone they know is probably on it. They use the Internet to make friends and chat, do research for homework, show off their artwork and look for the latest fashions or toys. The sad fact is, there are many predators out there as well, predators who want to take advantage of your child's ignorance. Luckily, there are ways to keep your child safe.

Education

The most important thing you need to do before allowing your child to use the Internet without supervision is to educate them. Talk to them about what can happen if they discuss too many details about themselves. Explain in calm and rational, yet serious terms that some very sick people lurk in Internet chat rooms designed for children, hoping to lure them into either participating in mature conversations or meeting in person so the predator can kidnap them-or worse. If someone seems to be asking a lot of personal questions about them, your child should talk to you about it.

Internet predators can do more than harm your child. They seek to obtain personal information about your family's finances to aid in identity theft. Explain to your child that if they give out any information about your family, even if it seems innocent, they may make it possible for someone to steal your identity, your money and ruin your credit. While some personal discussions are innocent in nature, most children, including teenagers, do not have the judgment to determine which questions are all right to answer and which are not.

Another thing that is vital to explain to your child before they use the Internet is that they must check with you before they download any attachments, click on any links in emails, or download any files from websites. Any of these actions could allow harmful viruses to invade your computer if the downloaded files are affected. Help your child investigate every file or link to determine whether the site seems legitimate. If it seems safe, only than should your child proceed. You should make sure you have installed the latest virus protection software available on your computer and update it on a regular basis to protect your computer against viruses and other malware that can harm it.

If you need help talking to your kids about safe use of the Internet, there are a number of websites that have some very good information. One such guide can be found at http://www.nassaulibrary.org/parent/guide.pdf.