|
A
Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
What
Can You Do To Minimize The Chances Of An On-line Exploiter
Victimizing Your Child?
-
Communicate,
and talk to your child about sexual victimization and potential
on-line danger.
-
Spend
time with your children on-line. Have them teach you about their
favorite on-line destinations.
-
Keep
the computer in a common room in the house, not in your child's
bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer-sex offender to
communicate with a child when the computer screen is visible to a
parent or another member of the household.
-
Utilize
parental controls provided by your service provider and/or blocking
software. While electronic chat can be a great place for children to
make new friends and discuss various topics of interest, it is also
prowled by computer-sex offenders. Use of chat rooms, in particular,
should be heavily monitored. While parents should utilize these
mechanisms, they should not totally rely on them.
-
Always
maintain access to your child's on-line account and randomly check
his/her e-mail. Be aware that your child could be contacted through
the U.S. Mail. Be up front with your child about your access and
reasons why.
-
Teach
your child the responsible use of the resources on-line. There is
much more to the on-line experience than chat rooms.
-
Find
out what computer safeguards are utilized by your child's school,
the public library, and at the homes of your child's friends. These
are all places, outside your normal supervision, where your child
could encounter an on-line predator.
-
Understand,
even if your child was a willing participant in any form of sexual
exploitation, that he/she is not at fault and is the victim. The
offender always bears the complete responsibility for his or her
actions.
Instruct
your children:
-
to
never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met
on-line;
-
to
never upload (post) pictures of themselves onto the Internet or
on-line service to people they do not personally know;
-
to
never give out identifying information such as their name, home
address, school name, or telephone number;
-
to
never download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a
good chance there could be sexually explicit images;
-
to
never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are
suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing;
-
that
whatever they are told on-line may or may not be true.
[TOP]
|
|
|
