Keeping your child safe on the Internet means putting your (probably hard won) parenting skills to work in a fast moving world. How you introduce your child to the Internet and what you allow them to do with Internet technologies will ultimately depend on the age of your child and your parenting style.
Think of it like this: When your child was young and just starting to walk you had to teach them what cars were and how to cross the road safely. In lots of ways, dealing with the Internet is no different. We're simpy handling a different type of technology here. Your family need to know that Internet technologies can be helpful, exciting and interesting, but they also need to learn how to use them wisely and what the dangers are. If you suddenly rush out into the middle of a busy highway without looking both ways you're taking unneccessary risks. So bear the following points in mind:
Get up to speed with the Internet yourself
One of the best ways of keeping kids safe on the Internet is becoming familiar with it yourself and making sure you know how to use things like social networking sites, blogs, chat rooms, micro blogging sites like Twitter, computer games and the whys and wherefores of podcasting. So dive in there, get up to speed and if you don't feel confident with about it, get yourself along to an evening class. Read the 'digital technology' section of your local newspaper once in a while. This will help you to keep up to date on how the laws on new media are changing. Of course you can also ask your kids questions and get them to teach you! At it's best the Internet is about communication and experimentation.
You will also need to wise up and stay informed about website terms and conditions, how to use passwords, email, Internet security for your personal computer, anti-virus software and the basics of firewalls. It's useful to know something about the legal aspects of the Internet too - things like basic copyright law and rules on privacy. Make sure you understand what 'libel' is. If you or your child are writing on chatrooms or blogging it can be really easy to say something you'll regret later. Remember that writing anything on the Internet generally means that you're writing something which will be sent out into the world, it's a public act and it should be treated with respect.
Read the 'digital technology' section of your local newspaper once in a while. Of course you can ask your kids questions and get them to teach you! And yes, you should also occasionally read the news stories which cover situations where things have gone badly wrong and children and young adults have been put at risk by careless or intimidating behaviour. You need to know what the dangers are.
Photographs
When someone takes a photograph of your child - make sure you know WHO they are and HOW they are going to use the picture. Get them to be specific. This rule should apple to EVERYONE who takes a picture of your child - whether they are a friend, the parent of a friend, an acquaintance, a newspaper photographer or a school photographer taking a class photograph. You're not making a fuss, it's a necessary and sensible precaution.
Taking a digital snap is often a fun, completely innocent and harmless thing to do, but in today's world, it's really important to err on the side of caution. You'd be surprised how many adults are not aware of the pros and cons of posting photographs on social media sites, for example. Some people even put birth announcements on their social networking sites nowadays whilst others find this practice objectionable. One answer is to make use of the 'closed blogging' or 'closed networking' facility that some providers offer.
Teach your children to be aware of how digital images are used in our society. If they are old enough - teach them the basics of copyright law and explain how pictures which appear in magazines and newspapers are often digitally manipulated. Make sure your children know that posting lewd or objectionable comments on their Facebook sites may jeopardise their future employment prospects. Many employers Google candidates names before a job interview to find out what they have said on line.
Anonymity
Make sure your child knows that people on the Internet aren't always who they say they are. Encourage them to tell you about their on line friends and drum it into them that they are never, ever to arrange an unaccompanied meeting with someone they have met on the Internet. Try to locate your household computers in a central place to that your child is not isolated when they go online.
Cyberbullying
Make good use of the excellent on line resources which can help you with problems like this. Ask your school governors to introduce a cyberbullying policy and check that your child's school or college has a sensible Internet access security policy with the appropriate restrictions for access in place.
Internet access and household finances
When your child is old enough - teach them something about what Internet facilities (mobile phone use and computer gaming) actually COST. It will help them manage their own finances. Make sure they know about online shopping consumer safeguards, such as secure site schemes. Keep your own online shopping passwords in a safe place.