To protect your children online parents must do more than install a content filter. A parent must create a plan that includes all Internet capable devices. Check you home for devices that connect to the Internet. These include; computers, digital music players, and game consoles. The only way to create a plan that is effective is to include all of these devices.

Once you have found all the Internet devices do a search of their drives for any content deemed inappropriate. Searching for photo file types, and checking the browser history can accomplish this. If any inappropriate material is found there may be a potential risk or safety issue involving your child.

A big part of keeping children safe is to take control of their online activities. The first step is to create your own administrative passwords. With an administrative password you can control the amount of access others have on the device. For example, you could require this password for any downloads, or block the use of the Internet unless the administrative password was keyed in. If you do not give the password to your child they will have to seek your assistance whenever accessing the Internet or downloading a file.

Filtering software is another tool that can keep your children protected online. This type of software will block any content that it deems as inappropriate. Most have setting for what you would like blocked and give recommendations based on the age of the children. The Windows operating system has a built in parental control that is fairly effective. There are other options for those on non Windows operating systems. Though content filtering software won’t unto itself keep your children safe online it does deliver a level of protection.

Parents should refrain from allowing children access to view the various social networking sites. Younger children especially should not be given permission to set up their own social networking account. Online predators are notorious for using these sites to gain access to children. What age you allow your child to have an account is up to the parent, but most experts agree that elementary and middle school children should not be provided access.

Keeping children safe online should be a priority for any parent. The online world continues to grow and be integrated into everyone’s lives. With this growth there are new dangers and the increased responsibility for parents to protect their children. To be effective a parent must be proactive in their approach to Internet safety.

However, we often find that the news is filled with predators, stalkers and horror stories, when most of the time instant chat sessions online can be time-saving, useful and productive.

For instance, some online chat programs have evolved and become programs that users install onto their computers. Once installed, these programs allow you to add contacts to other people who have the program such as friends, family or colleagues. You are then able to use a number of cool communication features such as voice, text chat or video conferencing with your contacts.

Your safety here is totally guaranteed…no user can actually contact you unless they know you and even if some unsavory person found your contact details, you could ban them with ease.

Often, the problems arise in public chat rooms that are not monitored. If personal information is swapped on these sites it could become a possible security hazard. But usually, as with most things, the people who have been caught in situations where their safety is compromised have simply been negligent. Who gives out their personal information online?? I certainly wouldn’t. Especially not to a complete stranger. It always amazes me how people blame the chat systems and not themselves when something goes wrong.

Adults who have been scammed/robbed/etc because of chatting in chat rooms are solely responsible for what happened to them. You hear often of how the “big problem” is the particular chat system that the perpetrator used. This is often arid nonsense. Chat rooms are no more dangerous than walking down the street. Would you stop and talk to a complete stranger and give him/her your home address? I seriously doubt it. So why do people do it online?

The problem of children accessing chat rooms is another issue, however. Children are not as vigilant as adults and may give this kind of information out without thinking much of it. This is the opinion of many parents and guardians.

However, this is certainly not my stand. Children have brains, and have warning sensors much like adults when it comes to possible dangers. The problem comes with parents not teaching and instructing their children about the possible safety problems online.

It seems either parents don’t bother with their child’s safety, or worse, stop their kids from participating in these chat rooms altogether. With profanity filters and chat room monitoring nowadays, the only way a child, or an adult, for that matter, can get him/herself into trouble is by acting with total disregard on these chat sites.. It is becoming harder and harder for criminals to operate on the net, and chat rooms are becoming safer and safer. Chat rooms nowadays are so safe that I believe anyone who compromises their safety in chat rooms is entirely at fault.

In short – don’t blame the system…it works for 99.9% of folks, and doesn’t for the 0.01% for a reason…

Many children and teens have computers in their bedrooms so it can be difficult to watch their every online move. Although we’ve told them to be cautious, we know that as children sometimes we had to go through the trial of mistakes to learn from our parents warnings. We know in our hearts that our kids don’t obey our every rule.

If you want to be absolutely sure of just exactly what your children are doing, you can install computer surveillance software to help you. This software runs secretly in the background without seriously impeding the personal computer’s performance and then sends you information on what your children are doing online. This software tracks and logs every website visited, every file downloaded every keystroke and view within every instant message conversation or e-mail. Having this information can help you protect your children. If you suspect your kids are doing things that they shouldn’t online, this can give you the information you need. Whether you are an advanced computer user or someone with very little knowledge, you can easily install this software and run it discreetly.

Statistically, the vast majority of children who go online and chat with strangers are approached for sex. Sexual predators often hide in chat rooms under the disguise of being a child themselves. We also need to be sure that our children are not sending out personal information or pictures. Parents set rules for their children and many sit watching their children online but as kids become older and the information age more and more mainstream, it’s difficult to watch their every move. As parents, we want to give our children the freedom of making their own choices under our guidance. But sometimes, we need to have extra peace of mind in knowing that we can protect them and ensure their safety.

Before you allow your child to go online without your supervision, make sure you establish a set of rules that you can all agree on.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some ideas on what to discuss with your kids to teach them about using the Internet more safely.

Here are 10 things you can teach kids to improve their Web safety

1. Encourage your kids to share their Internet experiences with you. Enjoy the Internet along with your children.
2. Teach your kids to trust their instincts. If they feel nervous about anything online, they should tell you about it.
3.  If your kids visit chat rooms, use instant messaging (IM) programs, online video games, or other activities on the Internet that require a login name to identify themselves, help them choose that name and make sure it doesn’t reveal any personal information about them.
4. Insist that your kids never give out your address, phone number, or other personal information, including where they go to school or where they like to play.
5. Teach your kids that the difference between right and wrong is the same on the Internet as it is in real life.
6. Show your kids how to respect others online. Make sure they know that rules for good behavior don’t change just because they’re on a computer.
7. Insist that your kids respect the property of others online. Explain that making illegal copies of other people’s work/music, video games, and other programs, is just like stealing it from a store.
8. Tell your kids that they should never meet online friends in person. Explain that online friends may not be who they say they are.
9. Teach your kids that not everything they read or see online is true. Encourage them to ask you if they’re not sure.
10. Control your children’s online activity with advanced Internet software. Parental controls can help you filter out harmful content, monitor the sites your child visits, and find out what they do there.

Children are going online at younger and younger ages, in fact, the fastest growing segment of Internet users is now pre-schoolers. Many kids are using the Internet at school by the time they are 6 years old, so they’ll probably want to go online at home around this age as well. Paretns must protect them and using these 10 tips will get you in the right frame of mind to do just that.

1. It is against the Facebook terms of use to have a Facebook account if you are under the age of 13.
2. Facebook can be a very dangerous place for someone under the age of 13, as they may not be old enough and experienced enough to recognize the danger signs.
3. Children younger than 13 are not emotionally ready to handle the “virtual bullies” that they may come into contact with.

Occasionally you may see a story in on your local news about a child who was bullied on Facebook by their peers. This is very real and happens more than you would think. Mean-spirited kids can create throwaway Facebook accounts (or use their own) to post embarrassing or slanderous remarks about another child, most often a classmate. This type of activity can be very emotionally distressing to a child and can lead to behavior issues and in some cases suicide.

If you child has a Facebook account it is important that you monitor the interactions your child has with other Facebook users. One way to do this is to create your own Facebook account and add your child as your “friend”. This will allow you to use your account to see what types of posts your child is making.

You can take this one step further by having your child provide you with their username and password for their Facebook account. This will enable you to log in to your child’s account and view what their friends are posting. This is the recommended approach as you will have access to any pictures or videos that may be associated with your child’s account.

Remember too that Facebook has an integrated real-time chat feature. This allows anyone on your child’s friend list to chat with them. The text that is shared during these conversations is not necessarily saved on your child’s computer so there may be no way for you to know what was being discussed. The best way to manage this is to use your child’s Facebook account information to log in to their account and manage their friends list. If you see someone on the list that looks like they don’t belong there, ask your child about them. If they can’t provide a satisfactory reason for having that person on their list, remove that person from the list. Look for older people and people that your child wouldn’t normally hang around with.

The information that your child enters into their Facebook profile can be seen by everyone on the Internet if the proper privacy settings are not in place. Make sure to review your child’s Facebook profile privacy settings to insure that they are set so that only friends can see their information. As always, do not allow your child to put any personal information in their Facebook profile. This type of information includes school name and grade, favorite hangouts, home address, phone number or any other personally identifying information. It’s information like this that stalkers and predators are able to use to locate your child.

Using Facebook should be a fun experience. By including the monitoring of Facebook in your routine of monitoring your teen’s Internet usage, you can keep Facebook safe for your child.