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The Internet has become part of our everyday lives, but it also presents a unique set of challenges for parents looking to protect their children from online predators and staying safe on the web.
If you're worried about your child's safety on the Web, there are plenty of ways to keep them safe—no matter what age they are! Here are nine tips from me (the mom who never knew how much trouble I was in until my kids told me), along with some suggestions from experts in this field:
Make sure you have a good web browser for your kids to use. You should also check the software downloaded by your child's device and make sure it's up-to-date with the latest security patches, which can help protect them from viruses and malware.
Other than that, some browsers have ad blockers built right in; others do not but provide other features such as tracking blockers (which block cookies). These are great ways of keeping track of what websites they visit so that parents can monitor their activity more easily when monitoring their computers remotely via apps like parental control software programs.
The next step to keeping your child safe is setting the rules for their use of technology. You should make sure that you have a firm grasp on what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior on the web, as well as in real life. You can do this by creating an agreement with your child about how they will behave online.
When you're talking with your kids, it's important to make sure they understand the dangers of the internet. You should talk about privacy, bullying and sexual predators.
Privacy: Explain that every person is entitled to his or her own space on the Web—and what happens when someone breaks into that space?
Bullying: Tell them how hurtful words can be when they are said out loud or written down in a text message or email. Talk about how much more hurtful it would be if someone were to say these things about you online because then everyone could see them at once!
Sexual Predators: Show them examples of sexual predators using social media sites like Facebook and Instagram so they can see how easy it is for someone else's photo to get posted without their consent (or even knowledge). This will help explain why people need protection from predators everywhere!
Parental controls are software programs that allow you to set limits on how much time your child spends online and what websites they're able to access. They can also block certain sites or content, as well as monitor their activity so you'll know when something bad is happening.
Understand that "friends" online may not actually be friends.
Know the difference between a Facebook friend and an online acquaintance.
Never share personal information with someone you don't know in person, especially if it involves your children's safety or well-being.
If you think someone is trying to make your child uncomfortable online, block them. That way, you can report the person and let others know that they are dangerous and shouldn't be around children.
If someone sends a direct message or tries to contact your child in any way that makes them feel unsafe, don't respond to them at all. You don't want to give them any information about yourself or your family by responding anyway—it's only going to lead them down the wrong path!
It's important to monitor the amount of time your child spends online, because this is one way you can protect them from predators. Make sure that they have a healthy balance between time spent on the computer and time spent doing other things, such as playing outside or reading books. You can also set up parental controls in order to limit how much screen time your kids get each day, so that they don't spend hours staring at glowing screens instead of interacting with people face-to-face.
Put the computer in a open place like the living room or family room.
Use parental controls to limit their access to the internet.
A VPN is a great way to protect your identity and keep your personal information safe on the web. Conveniently, you don't need to install a separate VPN client on your Windows, instead, you can simply install Cyberghost VPN Chrome extension for all users and it will protect your child from online predators.
It can be used to access blocked sites. If you live in a country where there are restrictions on what you can see or do online, a VPN will allow you to bypass those blocks and go online as if nothing were wrong at all.
It can mask your IP address so that people who want to track down who is using specific devices (like phones) will not be able to do so by looking at what websites they visit from those devices' logs of activity (aka "tracking").
Online predators are everywhere, and the Internet is a perfect place for them to find victims. It's important to keep your children safe from predators and other bad influences, especially when it comes to social media. But there are many other ways you can protect them from real-life dangers too, such as setting boundaries at home or creating an open environment where they feel comfortable talking about topics that make them uncomfortable. The key is not letting any one thing take over your life until all threats have been eliminated first!
