Keeping Your Kids Safely Surfing Online

Do you speak with your child about their online activity, including what they do and what personal information they share online? It is extremely important to stay actively involved in what your child is doing online. Everyone knows that there's a lot of exploration you can do online, but don't forget about the creeps and predators in the digital realm.

Communication Is Key

With a lot of children homeschooling right now, children are online twice as long, which has the potential to put your little ones at greater risk for child predators.

Speak with your kids about the risks associated with the internet so that you can be confident that they're practicing safety while surfing. One thing that you don't hear a lot about is teaching children how to trust their instincts. As you know, your gut instinct hardly ever leads you wrong and online, folks are not who they pretend to be when online.

Here are some steps you can take to protect your child online:

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• Teach them to spot red flags

• Supervise their internet usage

• Set time limits for younger children.

• Establish clear guidelines for being online

• Develop an online safety plan with your children.

• Install malware and antivirus on their computer.

• Encourage open communication with your child.

• Periodically check your child's profiles and posts

• Be sure that they are only chatting with people they know.

• Adjust the privacy settings on all devices that your child uses.

• Block people they do not know or trust, and trust their instincts

• Make sure that you have set their online accounts to private status.

• Teach them to say "no" to inappropriate requests online and in real life.

• Activate parental controls to better monitor what your child can do online.

• Review the apps and games on your child's devices, including their social media sites.

• Speak with your child about giving out personal information like address, school, pictures etc.

Family Room Computer

Keeping the computer in the family room will give you the visual access you need to monitor who your child is chatting with - because we know that the internet is a predator's best friend.

Make Sure You Have All of Their Passwords

It is important to know your child's passwords to all of their social media accounts.

Watch For Changes In Behavior

Is your child's behavior a little different, weird, withdrawn, secretive, etc?

Have a conversation with your child and something could be going on.

Your Child's Online Browsing History

Periodically check your child's online history so that you can see what websites they've been on.

If you're not sure how to do that, follow these instructions:

Open the web browser, click the options/menu button (three little buttons at the top left of the screen) and look for “history”. Now you can see every website your child has visited, and don't forget to check the recycle bin for anything that could have been deleted.

Things Parents Should Look For,

• Be watchful and alert for any signs of abuse or bullying.

• Does your child go online more or less often than usual?

• Look for any attempts to hide their online activity.

• Has your child become withdrawn, angry, full of anxiety, or depressed?

• Encourage your child to speak up if anyone tries to convince them to engage in inappropriate behavior, online or in person.

You can also speak with your internet service provider to see if there is a way to filter out pornography and violent websites, or you can purchase your own Wi-Fi router for your home and set up parental controls.

Did you know that children in grades four through eight have advanced to new online activities that parents may not be aware of, according to the “Children’s Internet Usage Study,”

• 29% are using the internet in ways their parents wouldn’t approve

• 21% visit sites where they can chat with strangers.

• 17% are visiting sites with sexual photos or adult videos.

• 11% are visiting sites with instructions for cheating on schoolwork.

• 4% are visiting gambling sites (little Timmy can count cards).

Remember to always remind your children not to talk to or agree to meet with strangers online or in person.

If you suspect online enticement or sexual exploitation of a child, call 911. Contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov, or fill out a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-843-5678 or report.cybertip.org.