Advice for Parents forProtecting TheirChildren Online

As the internet becomes
popular with children, they
are exposed more to the
perils and dangers of the
internet. It is the
responsibility of the parents to protect the blooms of
innocence from the dangers
of cyberspace. The foremost thing to do for
parents is to educate
themselves about computers.
While the parents are still
struggling to use the
microwave, their children are entering a whole new
exciting world of
cyberspace. It is a matter of
fact that our children are
sharper than us but if we
resolve to protect them then we will have to be more
incisive and keen. It is imperative that parents
learn about computers, their
language and develop
internet savvy. Children are
very sharp and they easily
dodge their parents. In a study, 95% of the parents
didn't recognize common
internet language that their
children use while chatting
with their friends. (The
national centre for missing and exploited children, June
2000) They use internet
language like POS for 'parent
over shoulder', BRB for 'be
right back', ASL for 'age/
sex / location', etc. Even if the parents are monitoring
their kids, they would not
understand this language.
Many parents do not even
know how to check
computer history to know which sites their children
visited. It is, therefore
necessary that they remain
up to date with all this.
Without full knowledge of
computers and internet, parents can never protect
their children from its
potential harms. After educating themselves,
all parents should devise
some rules of cyberspace for
their children. Remember,
internet is not a child's right
but a privilege! Some people think that they should
respect their children's
privacy and should not
interfere with their lives so
much. 77% of parents do not
have rules about what their kids can do on the internet.
(Kaiser family foundation
study, March 2005) Following are some rules
which should be
implemented at homes to
make your child's online
experience safe, educational
and entertaining. 1. Place the computer in the
living room or in a place
where you are also present to
monitor your child's
activities.
2. Disallow chat rooms. 3. Teach the children never
to give out their personal
information to anyone on
the internet and never meet
someone in person they have
only met online. 4. Limit the amount of time
your child spends on the
internet. Do not allow them
to use the internet at night.
5. Do not allow your child to
have public profiles with their pictures on the internet.
6. Review your child's
friend's list on instant
messengers regularly. However, these rules are not
enough to protect the child
completely. Other than
these, parents should use
protection softwares which
are available easily. They should use Filters and
Parental Control
programmes to block
inappropriate sites.
Spamming control
programmes and antivirus which block pop-ups should
be installed in the computer
to ensure that children do not
receive pornographic emails
and that these sites do not
flood your child's innocent online experience. To achieve 100% safety,
closed secure systems can
also be used. This system
allows children only to those
sites which are
predetermined as appropriate by their parents. In that
system, children are locked
out of the inappropriate
content of the internet. Moreover, parents'
involvement in their child's
life plays an important part
in his protection. They
should try to establish an
atmosphere of trust and love with their children. They
should bear it in mind that
their children especially
teenagers are undergoing a
very critical period in which
their role as a confidant- not a foe- is significant. It has
been found that children
who are close to their parents
are less like to get into
trouble. To make the internet safe
and a worthwhile
technology for the youth of
our nation, we must work
hard and take this issue
seriously. Remember, the whole life
of your child is on stake here
and it is your responsibility
to protect him and without
your cooperation, everyone
else's endeavors are meaningless. Maria Ilyas is a freelance
writer and writes excellent
quality of content. Writing is
her career as well as her
passion. Article Source: http:// EzineArticles.com/?
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