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Leaving your kids to sail the rivers of the internet alone is more like setting a tourist on a sailing island without a tour guide. Perhaps if he’s lucky, he might come back to his abode in one piece. But if he’s not, well, he might have to pay a visit to the river goddess.
My point being?
The online world is not a place for kids, but due to the drastic evolution of digitalization, children are now amongst its most frequent visitors. Many of them go there to play games, chat with friends, access inappropriate content, make virtual friends, gamble away money, and do all sorts of things you cannot begin to fathom.
As a result of this, kids have become an easy target for predators and conmen, impersonators and scammers, cyberbullies, and sexual content creators. Many of them – knowing how gullible, loyal, and naive kids tend to be – come to the chat rooms/websites/apps where your kids visit to target them, by either stealing from them or introducing them to ideologies that go against your moral values as a parent.
In this light, it is highly essential that you help protect your kids against all these. But how can you do it? You may wonder!
Here is how.
Limit screen time and activities online
Protecting your kids from the influence of vipers and the reach of predators online starts with the kids themselves. That is, what are they allowed to watch online, which platforms are they allowed to visit, when are they permitted to surf the internet, and when are they not?
All these are things you must place a marker on if you want to protect your kids from falling victim to the various predatory acts that are crawling the internet.
It would help if you considered limiting the number of hours per day or week that kids are allowed to use or do anything online. In addition to this, you should also state it to them outright the kinds of programs they’re allowed to watch online and the types of websites they’re not allowed to visit.
But be sure to explain in detail why you’re restricting their actions online because kids, being the curious being that they are, tend to do that which you tell them not to do.
Monitor their online activities
After telling them what they can and cannot do, it is still important to keep an eye on them to ensure they’re adhering to the instructions you’ve given.
Out of their curiosity to discover the efficacies of the internet, they might access things they’re not supposed to access, log in to sites you’ve prohibited, and do things they shouldn’t do. But when you have an eye on everything they’re doing, they’ll be more careful about breaking your laws because they know that your eyes are hovering over them. As part of the monitoring exercise, you can ask them to share their passwords, online account details, and other personal digital details. Let them know it’s not about prying into their privacy, but about their safety.
Whether or not they share these details with you, you should still use apps like Spy phone to track their online activities, such as who their contacts are, apps they are using, and where they are going.
Block sites you don’t trust
Another easy way to protect your kids online is by setting filters that impact what sites they can navigate to. Even though you can’t always be available to snoop on them when they’re accessing the internet, you can automatically block inappropriate websites in advance.
There are many security devices, filter programs, and site blockers out there that you can install to filter the types of sites that can be accessed on your home network. That way, you can safeguard your children from unsuitable online content.
Talk to them about online safety and be proactive
It is not enough to just set rules. You need to speak with your kids and let them know the threats they face in the digital community.
Most kids are naive and trusting, and as a result, they tend to believe that everything is ‘white and black.’ It would help if you convinced them that this is a far cry from the truth.
To make them believe you, you can share stories with them, show them videos of kids that lost their way due to the influence of the internet influence, and evidence of the harm internet has done to those that used it carelessly.
By being proactive, we mean you should take the extra step towards keeping them safe by seeing to it that they download, install, and activate all possible security measures on their devices. Some of the most common security measures include antivirus programs, app updates, browser security plug-ins, and browser security tools.
Educate them on the telltale signs of internet scams
Most kids don’t know how conmen perpetuate their activities online, and as such, when fraudsters or impersonators approach them online, they are not able to spot the telltale signs.
As a parent, the onus is on you to educate them on the various tricks used by predators online. If you don’t know these telltale signs yourself, you can learn about them and educate your kids on them so that they can watch out for them.
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This content is sponsored by Uday Tank.
Photo: Shutterstock