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Internet Safety - For Parents

Internet Safety - For Parents

The Internet can be dangerous.

The Internet is a constantly growing educational resource for children and can be a positive experience. Millions of children surf the Internet for school and entertainment every day. Children also communicate through emails, chat rooms, and public message boards. Unsupervised, the Internet can be dangerous, exposing our children to predators and inappropriate material.

According to a survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, one in five children receive unwanted sexual solicitations online and 70 percent of these unwanted solicitations happen on a home computer. The survey also found that most families who have youth who use the Internet regularly do not use filtering or blocking software.

The Solution:

Parents should educate their children to be cyber smart. Prevention and awareness is the key to deter cyber predators and exposure to inappropriate material. Children are trusting, naive, and curious. They must be supervised by parents who have a fundamental understanding of computer technology and the Internet.

Signs your child may be at risk online: 

  • Your child spends large amounts of time on-line, especially at night.
  • You find pornography or other "banned" material on your child's computer.
  • Your child receives telephone calls from someone (particularly an adult) you don't know, or is making telephone calls, sometimes long distance, to telephone numbers you don't recognize.
  • Your child receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don't know.
  • Your child turns the computer off or quickly changes the screen when you come into the room.
  • Your child is using an on-line account belonging to someone else.
  • Your child becomes withdrawn from the family.

Resources for Parents: