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Parents Guide to Internet Safety

Foreword

The Internet is a fantastic learning tool for kids.  But there is concern among parents, educators, and law enforcement that the information superhighway may lead children to places they should not go.  The purpose of this page is to provide a starting ground from which parents to learn more about protecting their children while surfing the Internet.  By educating ourselves, we can learn the benefits of using the Internet and know how to deal effectively with its downfalls without foregoing the use of it.

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On-line Safety--Where to Start

The home page of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provides an overview of what parents and children can do to learn more about Internet safety.Students Using the Computer Lab  You can read the center's brochure, entitled, "Child Safety on the Information Superhighway" (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).  This brochure stresses that "the fact crimes... being committed on-line is not a reason to avoid using these services. To tell children to stop using these services would be like telling them to forgo attending college because students are sometimes victimized on campus. Better to be 'street smart' to avoid being led into exploitative situations on-line or to prevent being enticed into face to face contact."  The center suggests using the same parenting skills when dealing with the virtual world as with the real world:  be involved with your child's on-line use, talk to them, tell them to never give out identifying information such as their full name, address, school, or telephone number and check with you before giving out their e-mail address, and tell them to never arrange meetings without parental permission or respond to suggestive, obscene and/or threatening messages.  Be sure to go over the section on "My Rules for On-line Safety" with your child.

Two more sites that offer information on on-line safety are Larry's World and Safekids.com.  They contain links to computer companies that provide software offering parental controls which permit such things as screening of Internet sites for subject matter so children cannot access certain topics coded by key words or phrases. Visit the makers of SurfWatch, Net Nanny, or CYBERsitter, among others. You can download and test their software.  Larry's World also has links to great sites for children. Choices include child safe search engines, Yahoo's K-12 educational listings, reviews of kids' sites, a hot list of museums, art work, Shakespeare, science sites, astronomy and the Discovery Channel.

Additional Information

Here are some additional links for more information regarding Internet safety for children:

GetNetWise--Provides Internet safety guides and links to software tools that monitor Internet access, filter web sites, and limit on-line time.

CyberAngel--Even more information on Internet safety.

The Police Notebook--University of Oklahoma Police Department's parents' guide to Internet Safety.

 Students Using the Computer Lab

Created on March 5th, 2001.
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