Keep Your Kids Safe on the World Wide Web

Are you wondering how to make the Internet safe for your kids? You want them to use the Internet for research, but you don’t want them to find objectionable sites or emails.

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.

Here’s the bad news: filtering programs can’t do the job by themselves. NentNanny and other applications like it search for certain words in the Web site your child is clicking on. Simple words like “belly” can be targets for blocking, causing frustration, while research on “breast cancer” may be impossible.

But these word-blocking solutions are no good at all at blocking objectionable photo sites that have no objectionable words attached. Ask me how I know? My teenage son figured it out. He just went to Google Images and started looking. Your son could do that too. And the objectionable sites he found weren’t blocked by NetNanny, which 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?”

* Keep your computers where you can monitor what the kids are doing. Put them in the kitchen or wherever YOU are.

*Have a login password that only the adults know. The kid has to have permission, and oversight, to use the computer.

*Require the child to log off when he is done. Now the password is required for the next session.

*Use filtering software. It may help.

*Make sure the kids know your expectations and the consequences for disobeying.

*If a child is just using a word processor or some other local program, disconnect the Internet cable.

*Require younger children to use your email address. This will allow you to protect them from vicious spam. As they get older, give teens their own email address, but make sure they give it out only to friends.

Following these precautions will help you keep your kids safe, and will teach your teenagers good habits for avoiding temptations.

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