Article: Tips for Keeping Kids Safe Online This Summer

[sunshineday]

Thought some might be interested in this article, "Keep Kids Safe on the Internet" that someone sent me this morning.

June is Internet Safety Month. Recently, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Cox Communications released a highly disturbing survey of youths between 13 and 17 years of age about their use of the Internet:

* 14 percent of the children questioned have had face-to-face meetings with people they met on the Internet. Even one teen meeting a stranger is one too many.

* 30 percent said they have considered meeting someone face-to-face who they know only through the Internet.

* 71 percent reported receiving messages online from someone they didn't know.

* 45 percent said they have been asked for personal information.

The rest of the article is here: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16789112&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222071&rfi=6

How scary are some of those numbers! thank god for something like cybertipline where you can report that kind of stuff! it's frightening that this happens to so many kids!

[BachMom]

For those interested, there's a DVD available that is a great resource to watch with your kids about the hazards of the Internet. It's called "Caught in the Web" and is produced by Connect With Kids, a company that produces videos (now available on DVDs for families) about hundreds of issues that are truly relevant to parenting today.
I watched the video with my teens (along with one on drinking and driving called Shattered, which had a huge impact!) and it opened up a fabulous discussion that might never have taken place. We're all accustomed to watching TV -- and the DVDs are a great information resource.
Check out the website at www.connectwithkids.com and click onto product preview. You can sample a video stream to see what it's all about.
Hope you find this helpful!

[yourdaynow]

Hi sunshinelady,


Thanks for the link isn't that scary? :mad:

[SwtRose]

Thank you for sharing these articles.

One of my columnist Suzanne Stanford is a nationally recognized internet safety education speaker and consultant. In 2002, while a founding executive for the internet safety education foundation, i-Safe America, she received a Congressional Merit Award; and was selected by Senator David Vitter as one of ten American Women of Leadership.

Her extensive background includes working with the United States Congress on internet safety issues, and bringing public awareness on the illegal trafficking of minor children.

Currently, she is the Founder and CEO of My Internet Safety Coach.com; and the Vice President of Internet Safety Affairs for the Children’s Educational Network.

Ms. Stanford publishes online internet safety information and speaks around the country on responsible internet use and how to avoid being victimized by online predators.

You may Suzanne Stanford's website at: www.myinternetsafetycoach.com

Some of her articles can be read here http://www.todays-woman.net/article-topic-49.html


I’ve written a few posts regarding keeping your children safe, which can be read at my blog rosedesrochers.todays-woman.net. My 12 year old son also has a wonderful article that he wrote on cyberbullying. http://invision-graphics.com/dragonboy/2006/06/25/cyber-bullying/

It’s an eye opener for parents. He did a great job with the article.

[sunshineday]

yourdaynow, it IS scary, itsn't it? it's why i think it's so totally important to remember that knowing what sites your kids visit regularly, and who they talk to, is so important, as well as making sure to discuss with kids how they can protect themselves and their personal information online. I think a lot of parents incorrectly assume that it can't happen to THEIR kids, when the Cybertipline stat is something like 1 in 5 kids will get sexually solicited online - it clearly happens a lot more than people realize, and that is a totally frightening thought.

I like all the suggestions for how to moniter/be aware of kids internet usage. How do you guys think it's best to try and talk to kids about this subject?

(hi y'all! sorry for disappearing! i went on vacation - it was so relaxing! i'm glad to be back!)

[CherOnyx24]

Thank you for sharing the article! Everyone keep those kiddos safe :cool:

[sunshineday]

No problem! I am actually really interested in this kind of thing, because I think that, like I said, educating yourself about online resources is the most important thing, and the biggest thing you can do to keep yourself and your kids and your personal info safe from sick perverts. So, I read up a lot on this subject - because I love the communities that the internet has brought me, and I want everybody to get to enjoy that, too, you know?

Anyway, today I was reading about the difficulty of age verification on sites like MySpace and other social networking places, because obviously kids can lie and stuff like that, and about the ways MySpace is trying to figure out how to fight kids getting around the age rule.

That one is here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20060717-1103-ageverificationonline.html
if anybody's interested.

I do appreciate MySpace making such an effort to improve safety on their site, though, I really do. Between this, and the online safety awareness ads they did a bit back, and the fact that now when you report inappropriate content, you can click the link to report them to Cybertipline too (maybe people would stop if they knew they were being reported to real agencies that could bust them?) - it all makes me feel that MySpace is moving in the right direction, slowly but surely, towards promoting safety.

(I read entirely too much stuff online, huh?)