Keeping your child safe on the internet is more crucial than ever these days. There are lurkers and pedophiles, sex offenders and kidnappers. In the physical world it's easy to keep your children safe, but online people can hide their identity and you may never know what kind of person your child is really talking to. Here are some tips to keep them safe while online .

Most kids who are allowed online are doing one of two things: playing internet games or chatting up a storm. Internet games won't invite predators into their lives, but chatting sure will open the door for them. First off, make sure you have a password anywhere you can on your PC. Have a password to log on and make them their very own user name. This way you can set all kinds of access and denials for programs and the such that will be specific to their user name. When they have entered a chat room, see if the room allows for only buddies to talk to your child. There may be a buddy list you can create with friends you know and approve of.

Set up the parental controls and create a password for that as well. That will force your child to come and ask you for permission to view a certain site and give you the chance to see what they're up to. Another way to protect your child on the internet is to go to your internet tools and add only sites that you know are safe for your child. This way you're not getting up every five minutes to approve or disapprove a site they want to look at. Set the privacy for their log on to the highest possible. You may have to listen to whining, but it's worth it when you realize how many predators are out there looking for a child just like yours.

Finally, if nothing is working and somehow your child still is getting to places he/she shouldn't be online , then it's time to pull up a chair and sit there with your child and watch every move they make. The above tips should keep your child plenty safe from online predators, but in case your child is a super genius, remember nothing beats good old-fashioned parental supervision.

Learn more about this author, Carisa Silvesan.
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