12 Internet Safety Tips for Parents

Unfortunately protecting your child online it is easy as it used to be. As a parent you must absolutely play a very active role in your child's education when introducing them to the Internet, and more importantly and use it safely.

Today one of the most perilous threats to your child's online safety are online sexual predators.

The Federal Bureau of investigations recently estimated that with over one million pedophiles online on any given day at any given time, your child has a one in four chance of being approached in an online chat room or through an instant message.

Worse still, if your child has a my space.com account, where they have posted pictures of themselves, the chances of such a contact go up dramatically.

Long gone are the days when parents could allow the computer to be an unsupervised activity. But as a parent, it's not always easy to know the best way to handle certain situations or what guidelines you should lay down for your child to follow. When they are surfing the Internet.

To protect your children,we've put together some simple guidelines that are easy to follow by both parent and child alike. We call these the top 10 Internet safety tips that you can and should share with your child.

In the interests of online safety for your child, teach them to:

First and foremost is to get them to always use a Internet 'screen name'. Never reveal your real name, where you go to school, what your phone number is phone number or where you live.

Always to tell mom/dad if they receive ANY email or instant message, or chat that they find scary, upsetting or makes them uncomfortable in any way whatsoever.

Never respond to a threatening email or message. Instead, they should save that message as a text file to a special folder on their desktop so that mom and dad can take the appropriate action. When contacting the authorities.

Never trade or post personal photographs in the mail or over the Internet. If they do post a personal picture on their personal blog or my space account, make sure that the picture does not reveal any information in the background that might give an online predator a clue as to where your child lives or what school they go to.

Never agree to meet anyone in real life that they have met in a chat room or online. this is one of the most dangerous things that child can do. If they truly want to meet someone, they should be willing to let you chat with the individual first, and go with them to supervise the meeting.

Never tell anyone your or their password or login info. doing so could cause untold problems for both you and your child. It's not uncommon disreputable individuals to capture this personal information and go online pretending to be your child.

Never accept any invitation go in private a chat room. Remember, due to the anonymity that the Internet provides, your child has no real way of knowing who is really on the other end of that check connection that new chat buddy may say they're a 15-year-old girl. Just wanting to talk privately, but realistically, chances are it's someone trying to get your child alone. So they can solicit them for sex, either online or off.

Never accept everything someone says online. People lie - make sure your child knows this. Again, the Internet provides a way for anyone to pretend to be anyone else that they want. Just because something is said online doesn't make it true..

Never accept an 'Instant Message' from a stranger or chat with one online. Doing so could open your child's computer to attack by a hacker or malicious virus. At the very least, it opens the door for stranger to get closer to your child

Never tell anyone how old you are. we're not saying that they should lie about their age, we're just saying that they shouldn't say how old they are one way or another. If your child does find themselves being solicited in a sexual or vulgar manner, they should let you know immediately.

Teach them to to tell you if they have a new 'friend,' have them introduce the friend to you online. if the person on the other end is legitimately another child who has befriended your child online, there should be no issue with them agreeing discount with your parents

Always get permission from Mom or Dad before using the computer. As crazy as it sounds, parents now routinely use the computer as a convenient babysitter, not realizing the dangers their children face when they log on line.

Make sure your child knows that they are not to use the computer without your permission. In fact, if your child has their own computer in their own room consider moving it to a more public space like the family room or den.

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