Tips to safeguard your children online

In this day of easy and ubiquitous access online, it is of utmost importance to think about Internet safety for kids. Children are vulnerable to abuse by online predators and other criminals. Here are some ways to keep them safe:

1. If a child reports being approached online, immediately write down as much information as possible, including the screen name or e-mail address of the person who contacted the child; the URL of the chat room, if applicable; and the date and time of the contact. Then report the incident to the local police or CMCF.

2. Move router to family areas instead of their rooms.

3. Talk specifically to students about the diversity of online dangers, including threats, demands, or insults. Address the problem of non-sexual as well as sexual victimization on the Internet. Make students and parents aware of the existence and locations of resources for reporting and dealing with Internet offenses.”

4. One of the key things is to start the process of discussing online safety with your children at an early age, when they start to do anything that involves the Internet.

5. The best advice to give to your own family and friends is encapsulated as follows: “If you wouldn’t do it face to face, don’t do it online.”

6. The Internet is a fantastic place, but you have to be careful what you do and say when you are there. Don’t say things which you wouldn’t talk about in conversations with your family, think about what you do and say, you may well regret what you do by hurting someone or being hurt yourself.

7. The first and most fundamental principle is that children never, under any circumstances, browse the Internet or mobile devices unaccompanied. They may have iPad Mini devices at which they are more adept than most adults. You must set the devices to forget the WiFi access code so that they cannot get online without parental supervision.

8. You can set them up with their own personal private clouds through the Respect Network in all the devices that they can or could access the internet, which has a Passcode that only you know and each device has blocks on sites that are considered risky.

9. Enforcing boundaries and engaging in age-appropriate open discussions about your child’s online activities will encourage your young cyber minds to learn the benefits and realise the dangers of the internet.

Please call CMCF at (603) 7954 8105 or email [email protected] if you need advice or assistance in safeguarding your child’s cyber activities.

You may refer to the CMCF Content Code which can be downloaded here!