Defend Your Children against Online Predators (2)

Children and teens need, at all times, adults' support. Parents have to become ever more computer savvy as for to better understand the threats their offspring face while surfing the Internet. Here are some ideas for parents that want to be a part of their children's on- and off-line life.

Tips for Parents:

• Try to learn as much as possible about the needs that your children have when it comes to Internet and computer and together unveil the mysteries of cyber world; always communicate with your offspring about the threats the Internet poses to him/her as well as to the family as a whole;
• Do not allow your child to have a computer in his/her room; place it in a place where you could keep an eye on the monitor when the circumstances ask for it (for instance, in the living-room);
• You should try and "google" you child's name (together with your child) and see what comes out; you might find interesting things such as blogs they may have, communities they are active in, information about him/her and about the entire family;
• Make sure you know the passwords your children use for their accounts; encourage them to restrict the amount of exposed information to a certain number of people that you know and trust; make sure you know your child's online friends as you know those from the real life;
• Discuss with other parents and share your experiences; you could also make sure you never miss a training or an informative conference organized by schools or within your community; 

• Establish rules together with your children regarding the computer/web use, underlining the safety reasons you are concerned about - you might want to make your child an ally in our fight for safety;
• When you decide to use parental control tools, which will unburden you a lot from some of the responsibilities you have, do not keep this a secret from the child; involve him/her and let him know how these services can protect you all;
• Advise your children not to respond to e-mails that contain spam, obscene and aggressive messages and furthermore to avoid sending themselves this kind of e-mails; teach them about the responsibility they have toward the others active in the online community;
• As parents and teachers, you should be aware of the computer lingo, i.e.  P911 - my parents are coming; PA - parent alert; PAL - parents are listening; PANB - parents are nearby; TAW -  teachers are watching;