How to Talk to Your Kids About Cyber Safety
Maybe you’ve already had the “birds and bees” talk with your kids. Maybe you’ve also educated your child on the dangers of alcohol and drugs. But have you had the equally important cyber safety talk? With all of the gaming and social networking sites out there, kids are as actively involved in the social media scene as parents. (Often times, kids are even MORE involved.)
Denise Pellows, St. Louis area cyber safety expert and author of Five Dangerous Trends Concerning Kids, Technology and the Internet discusses some tips on how 21st century parents can help today’s kids navigate safely through cyberspace.
What are the most common mistake parents make in this arena?
I am not sure I would call this a mistake rather more like absent of mind. Parents’ number one issue when it comes to their kids and their safety with technology is to be proactive, instead of reactive. Put the necessary safeguards in place from the start. Even if they haven’t started, now is not too late. We encourage parents with children 13 and older, to use social media in their everyday lives to connect with friends, aid in their careers, staying touch with the community and just to make them more aware of how our children use social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.
What websites do you recommend for parents to get more info?
There are two websites I recommend besides my own. As mine is for adult education and awareness concerning kids, technology and the Internet. www.kidsbesafeonline.com. But for age-appropriate recommendations with technology and entertainment for kids, first, is http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ and secondly, for all those parents of gamers is http://www.whattheyplay.com/
Parents obviously need to talk to kids about this sort of thing. When should that start?
When do you start, we recommend age 4. Typically, children will start with Webkinz or whatever the new favorite website is for their age may be. There are products out now for children to help aid parents with their online choices such as www.clubtuki.com(The Ultimate Kids Internet), where children have access to online activities, games and educational websites that have been pre-screened for age appropriateness.
It is much easier these days to find products to help in the safety of children online, but first and foremost it truly comes down to education and awareness. By using the tools available to parents it makes it much easier to create a dialog and maintain control of what their children access online and who may be trying to access them.
What should parents understand before they sit down to talk to their kids?
The real message here is we want every parent to understand what their children might post, click or upload to social media can and quite possibility will affect their future. College admission counselors and future employers do background checks on all social media sites for their college admission applicants and all job applicants. We can’t stress enough to our children to “Think First” before you post, click or upload.
Denise shares tips on how to stay connected with your children using technology to encourage dialog and family time in the March 2010 Better Homes and Gardens, Family Time 2.0 . You can also visit this site of hers as well as this site which educates parents on trends and obstacles facing children today including sexting, Facebook security, Government actions, and cyberbullying.
Denise’s book is available everywhere worldwide, local bookstores, Amazon, as well as in India, China, Australia, Sir Lanka, Hong Kong and more… KidsBeSafeOnline has a fan page here. Her twitter handle is @DenisePellow.
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