How to Keep Your Kids Safe on the Internet

By: Phyllis Wheeler

Here's the issue: how to be sure your kids are safe from viewing objectionable sites when they are searching the Internet. After all, you don't want them to stumble across something they should not see.

Maybe you are hoping to buy a program for your computer that blocks objectionable sites, but will allow them to do the research you want them to do.

I have to tell you that there is no solution like that. These filter programs, such as NetNanny, look for a list of objectionable words in the site your child has chosen to visit. Simple words such as "leg" can raise the alarm and cause a headache, while regular research on breast cancer might be blocked.

But programs that look for words fail completely if the site has no objectionable words--only objectionable photos. My teenage son figured this out. He used Google Images to look for objectionable sites. He found them despite the fact that our filter, NetNanny, was turned on.

The software could not have detected the objectionable photos, since NetNanny and similar software look for objectionable words. They are not able to evaluate pictures.

The next question is, "What's a parent to do?"

*The computer should be where you can monitor what the kidsa re doing. They should be where YOU are.

*To log on, anyone who is not an adult will have to ask an adult to input the password, giving permission in this way.

*Ensure that the kid logs off when the computer session is over, or turns the computer off. This makes the password required for the next session.

*Use NetNanny or a similar filter. It can only help.

*Make sure the kids know you will punish them if they are looking at objectionable sites. Visit their terminals at unpredictable times.

*Unplug the Internet cables if the child doens't need to access the Internet for his task.

*Make younger kids use your email address. Then you can be sure to delete that filth that lands in the inbox from time to time. Or, as the kids get older, give them their own but instruct them to give out their address only to trusted friends.

If you take these measures and are watchful, you will help your teenagers withstand a temptation that is everywhere on the Internet, and get them into the habit of making good choices when sitting down to use the computer.

Article Source: http://www.yesparenting.com/articles

Phyllis Wheeler, the Computer Lady, offers these tips for parents. She also provides homeschool computer courses through MotherboardBooks.com, which has provided self-study computer science courses for kids and teens since 2003.

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