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Protecting Your Children Online
Elizabeth Bowles, President Aristotle.net
Parents should keep in mind that while the Internet is a wonderful tool for learning and research, it is not a place for children to be left unsupervised. You would not drop your children off downtown in a major city alone, and you shouldn't leave them to surf the Internet alone.
While constant supervision is best, it isn't always practical, so you should educate your children on what not to do on the Internet:
- Predators will often enter chat rooms where children are likely to congregate and attempt to "lure" one of them into a private chat room where they can begin their seduction. Tell your child that he or she should never enter a private chat room with a person he or she does not know.
- Impress upon your child that chat room conversations do not equal "knowing" the person he or she is chatting with. Predators will often disguise their true identities.
- Children should be told that they must never post their personal information - such as their real name, address, and email address - to a bulletin board or in a chat room.
- Similarly, if your child is contacted through email by someone he or she doesn't know, your child should not provide any personal information to that person and should inform you of the email.
- Encourage your child to come to you if he or she has questions about something found on the Internet, if he or she feels uncomfortable for any reason about anything occurring in a chat room, or if anyone makes inappropriate or sexual remarks in a chat room or through email.
In addition to educating your children on safe Internet behavior, there are a number of other things you can do to keep your children safe.
- Be aware of when your child is online, with whom your child is chatting, and what sites your child is visiting. Ask your child what he or she is doing when online and make a point of monitoring the computers' history. If you cannot constantly supervise your child, there are software programs, such as Net Nanny and CyberSitter, that can help you monitor your child's surfing habits after the fact. Some of these same programs will provide transcripts of chat room conversations as well.
- Shield your child from inappropriate emails. Some ISPs, like Aristotle, provide filtering services that eliminate spam. Aristotle's filtering system eliminates over 99.9% of all spam. Additionally, there are email programs that allow you control what email your child receives. Some email programs, like Aristotle's WebSage, allow parents to prevent predatory emails from reaching their children. WebSage allows parents to designate specific individuals who can email their children and to block emails from people who are not on that list.
- Offer and be prepared to address questions should your child accidentally come across a site, such as a hate site or pornography, he or she might not understand or find disturbing.
- If you learn that someone appears to be "stalking" your child, notify the authorities immediately. Many police departments operate "sting" operations where officers enter chat rooms pretending to be a child in order to catch dangerous predators.
As an educational research and communication tool, the Internet will be an invaluable aid throughout a child's life. Just as parents teach their children how to drive a car safely, they should take the time to teach children how to use the Internet safely.
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