Kids today have a different perception of the computer and the Internet. Children in elementary school are being taught how to use a computer. Some school reports require Internet sources. Teaching your children about the Internet and setting some rules will keep them safer.

First, help your children understand that seeing something on the Internet doesn’t make it real. Friends whom they meet might not really be children. Help them to understand that the Internet makes everyone anonymous.

Peter Johnson, a real-life analyst at Netsmartz 411 says, “information is available for everyone. Any interesting party, parents, guardians and teachers can access over a thousand documents with the most updated information about parental control in Facebook and MySpace to a phone device.”

Netsmartz 411 is a program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. They have real life analysts who are experts in Internet safety and can provide parents with all the necessary steps that will keep children and teens safe online.

Another great tool for children, parents, guardians, educators and law enforcement is TheNetSmartz Workshop. This program is an interactive and educational program of the (NCMEC) specifically designed for children ages 5-17. With the help of videos, games, activity cards, and presentations, children can have fun and also educate themselves to stay safe online.

Sometimes parents are not too familiar with the Internet. What happens in that situation? How can they still protect their children?

Peter Johnson recommends that parents who are not familiar with the Internet speak to someone who can point them in the right direction. He says, “Netsmartz 411offers some basic information that can help parents from setting an email account to opening an account in Facebook and other social networking sites.”

Online Safety Tips.

· Make sure your child doesn’t spend all of their time on the computer.

· Keep the computer in a family room, kitchen or living room, not in your child’s bedroom.

· Learn enough about computers so you can enjoy them together with your kids.

· Teach them never to meet an online friend offline unless you are with them.

· Watch your children when they’re online and see where they go.

· Make sure that your children feel comfortable coming to you with questions and don’t over react if things go wrong.

· Keep kids out chartrooms or IRC unless they are monitored.

· Encourage discussions between you and your child about what they enjoy online.

· Discuss these rules, get your children to agree to adhere to them, and post them near the computer as a reminder.

· Teach them what information they can share with others online and what they can’t (like telephone numbers, address, their full name and school).

· Get to know their “online friends” just as you get to know all of their other friends.

· Warn them that people may not be what they seem to be and that people they chat with are not their friends, they are just people they chat with.

· Avoid webcams if possible.

Source

Detective Joseph Sorrentino a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and a member of the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Task Force says, “the problem is most parents don’t know enough about computers, their kids set up their computers for them.” “When it comes to social networking I tell parents, first off, they should set up your own account because you can’t really investigate, unless you’re a member. I strongly urge that parents become the friend of their child.” Source

Detective Sorrentino and his staff give out presentations throughout Fairfax County Schools to educate children and teachers. He also trains SRO’s (School Resource Officers) with the most important issues that they could be faced throughout the school year. The curriculum includes courses on handling “sexting” cases, Internet Safety, cyber bullying and many more.

Generally, parents need to be informed and get all the training possible if they are not too familiar with the Internet. There are certain tools that parents can use to protect their kids. Filtering software, for example, is highly recommended. Some of the search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN already have parental control options that authorize parents to filter information. The only disadvantage about this type of filtering is that it works for certain sites, and it has very limited capabilities.

The best option would be to buy Monitoring software that allows monitoring a computer from the web. NetNannyParental Control is perfect for informed and proactive parents who may or may not be computer or Internet savvy. Another more advanced software is SpectorSoft, which allows parents to record everything from Facebook, websites visited, online searches and more.

Some other things that parents should learn are acronyms that tweens and teens use to communicate in chat rooms or text messages. There are several online software free of charge that will decode these acronyms.

Although parental control and other software are available to protect kids online. There is still so much to do about online safety. Parents are the first ones to inform authorities if they suspect any online threats or mysterious activities that involves their kids.

Ultimately, the Internet is a fundamental tool for education, future career and lives. Parents need to understand that the biggest risk children face online is being denied access. Therefore, it's crucial that parents stay informed and educated on the latest trends of technology to keep up with their kids.

The following video shows U.S. Ambassador to the EU William Kennard explaining how technology itself gives parents all the necessary tools to protect children.

Resources.

Enough is Enough. http://www.internetsafety101.org/acronyms.htm “Internet Safety 101”

National Center for Missing & Exploded Children. http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=169 “The Cyber Tip line”

Netsmartz411. http://www.netsmartz411.org/ “Ask an Expert”