Parenting Blog

The internet provides wider educational opportunities for today’s children, but it also creates new threats to your child’s safety. From online predators to access to inappropriate websites, kids are bombarded by new dangers springing up every day. Some parents turn to content blockers, while others resort to banning their kids from the computer unless they have permission or are supervised by a parent or older sibling.

Many parents refuse to let their children register on MySpace or other social networking sites, or block them from instant messengers or chat rooms, even if their child only wants to talk with their friends. The fact is that with new advances in technology comes new and sneakier ways for child predators to come in contact with their victims, and it’s no surprise that parents are worried. It doesn’t help that many parents who are not computer-savvy don’t understand how to keep their kids safe. Here are some basics about social networking sites that will put your mind at ease and help you keep your child out of harm’s way.

The frequent subject of horror stories on the nightly news is, of course, MySpace. A directory of public profiles complete with photographs and personal details make this website a sexual predator’s dream-come-true. As with most websites, however, your child’s safety depends on how freely your child gives out his or her information. MySpace has created safety features for its users, including the option to set your profile to “private.” This way, the only people who can see your child’s information are the people she adds to her “friends” list. It’s never a good idea, even if her profile is “private,” for your child to include any important personal information on her profile. It’s always safest for your child to use a nickname or to hide their last name on social networking sites, and of course, never provide information like telephone number, address, or even email. Most young people use these sites to stay in touch with their friends, and there is simply no reason to include information like this. A list of their favorite music on their profile is okay; the name of the city they live in is not.

With the rise of Facebook, MySpace has been steadily falling in popularity. In many ways, Facebook is a much safer alternative to MySpace. For instance, all profiles are set to private, so only those who have profiles themselves and who you add as a friend can view your information. Just like MySpace, with Facebook, your safety depends on how private you keep your information. Your child shouldn’t “friend” people he or she doesn’t know, and should never share specific information on their profile. The safety downfall of Facebook is that your child’s profile can be viewed by people who are members of the same primary “network” that she belongs to, even if she hasn’t added them as a friend. You can fix this problem by visiting the Privacy page and changing the settings of who can view your profile to “Only my friends.” It’s always a good idea to be familiar with each site’s privacy policy and settings.

Instant messaging is safer than visiting a chat room, since your child can control who they chat with and who chats with them. The best way to keep your child safe on instant messengers is to talk with your child about online predators and instructing him or her to refrain from giving away personal information online, even to someone they think is a friend, and to ignore messages from screen names they don’t recognize. Blocking your child from messengers and social networking sites altogether is not necessarily the best option because if your child doesn’t understand basic online safety rules, talking with her is the only way to solve the problem; trying to keep her offline won’t always keep her safe.