Awareness and Child Safety | Legal Information | Where to Get Help
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Awareness
and Child Safety (return
to)
Online Safety
Unfortunately, the internet is the perfect medium for child molesters. It is unregulated. It is anonymous. It can be secretive. Anyone can be anyone they chose to be; whatever age they pretend to be.
Fortunately, there are a number of things that can be done to keep children safe. Teaching your children these simple guidelines may save them from a predator:
1. Never give out personal information.
2. Never agree to meet in person with anyone you have spoken to online.
3. Never enter a chat room without supervision. People may not be who they say they are.
4. Never tell anyone online where you will be or what you will be doing.
5. Never respond to or send e-mail to new people you meet online.
6. Never send a picture over the internet or via regular mail to anyone you've met on the internet.
7. Never respond to anything that makes you uncomfortable. End such an experience by logging off as soon as possible.
8. Always tell someone about something you saw, intentionally or unintentionally, that is upsetting.
As parents you can:
1. Get to know the services your child uses.
2. Make computer time a family activity.
3. Stay in touch with what your kids are doing online.
4. Set reasonable rules and guidelnes for using the computer.
5. Find resources (online and in print) that suggest child-appropriate content and can inform you about web sites.
6. Consider installing blocking software that logs your child's internet activity.
7. Consider installing software on your computer that blocks or filters incoming information or e-mail or signing up with an Internet Service Provider that takes care of it on their end.
