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Internet Safety - For Parents
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 e-mails, 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.