10 Internet Saftey Tips For Parents

[Troy Dooly]

The Facts!

* One in five children who use a computer chartrooms have been approached over the Internet by pedophiles.
* Only one in four youth who received a sexual solicitation reported the incident to an adult.

A study by the NOP Research Group found that of the four million children aged 7 to 17 who surf the Internet, 29% would freely give out their home address and 14% would give out their email address if asked.

* According to the US Department of Justice there are 250,000-500,000 pedophiles in the United States which equates to one in every 100-200 Internet users!

According to the FBI there is a 100% chance that YOUR child will encounter a sexual predator in an Internet Chat room and 2 of every 5 missing teens aged 15-17 are missing due to Internet activity!

Consider This!

Thirteen-year-old Kacie Woody liked to play soccer, sing, and chat online. On December 3, 2002 she vanished from her home in Holland, Arkansas. Police found her body, along with that of her abductor, 19 hours later in a storage facility.

She had been murdered by 47-year-old David Fuller of La Mesa, California, who then committed suicide. Kacie's friends, told police that she had an ongoing relationship with someone named David who she believed was another teenager. Signs of a struggle at her home indicated that she was unaware that he was coming to see her and unwilling to go anywhere with him.

Online Social Networks

Myspace.com, Xanga.com, facebook.com, tagworld.com which sites are your kids on? And which sites do online predators hang out? The answer may be all of them at least for predators. Think about it: a profile is free, and anyone can lie about his or her age and post a fake picture. Predators use profile information to befriend their prey.

* Connecticut: In a span of a few weeks, nine girls reported sexual abuse from adults they met on myspace.com.
* Texas: A 15 year old was lured from home and assaulted by an adult she met on myspace.com.
* California: A girl was sexually assaulted by an adult she met on myspace.com.

The Parents Top 10 Tips To Online Safety

1. Teach your children to never give out personal information online which includes: name, address, phone number, school, sport teams they play on, fields they practice at, ect.

2. Set reasonable rules and guidelines for your children before they venture out on the Internet. Discuss these rules and post them near the computer as a reminder.

3. Keep your computer in an open area and monitor your children's Internet use.

4. Review their screen name(s) and see if they reveal too much information that may tip off a predator and if so make the appropriate changes. Make sure you turn on the feature to save history for all Instant Message and chat programs used by your children.

5. Make any "Social Networking Site Profile" private, review and screen your children's friends/buddy list! Make 100% sure that these are real friends.

6. Surf with your children and explain to them the proper Internet etiquette.

7. Convince your children to come to you if ANYTHING happened that make the "feel uncomfortable" or they know they experienced something that you would find "inappropriate". Assure them they will not loose their Internet privileges by coming to you when something like this happens.

8. Contact local law enforcement if you are ever contacted by a stranger or your children are solicited in any manner. Do not delete any emails and chat session as these may be evidence needed by law enforcement.

9. Get educated about the Internet dangers and perils and sit down and discuss these issues with your child and ask them to show you what sites they like and what they like to do online.

10. Install Internet Filter and Parental Control software on your computer and/or configure the software that you already have on your computer.

This tips were first published in 2006. I found them on a great site brought to us from the Children's Educational Network called Tuki Freedom Browser.