Should You Let Your Child Post Pictures and Videos Online?
Are you the parent of a child or a teenager who uses the internet, namely social networking websites like MySpace? If you are, your child may be interested in posting pictures or videos of themselves online, if they haven’t already done so. Should you let them?
When it comes to determining if you should let your child post personal pictures and videos of themselves online, you, as the parent, should have the final say. With that said, it is first important to examine the pros and cons of letting your child post these items online. Pictures and videos are common on social networking websites, like MySpace and Facebook.
In all honesty, the only true pro or plus side to letting your child post videos or pictures of themselves online is because it is what your child wants to do. Letting them post their pictures and videos online will likely make your child happy. They can easily share videos and pictures with friends, as opposed to actually bringing them to school.
As much as your child or teenager may want to post personal pictures or videos of themselves online, it is also important to know that Read more
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Internet Safety for Kids: Rules to Set for Online Message Boards and Chat Rooms
Is your child or teenager interested in meeting new people online? At this age, they aren’t very likely to meet the person in real life, but communicate through way of the internet instead. As nice as this sounds, it is important to remember that it can still be dangerous. Just because your child is talking to someone who claims to be another teenager, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are.
Since it is relatively easy for false identities to be created online, especially for internet and child predators, you will want to set strict rules if you intend to let your child use online message boards and internet chat rooms to do this communicating. As for what you rules you should set, it will honestly depend on your child’s age. Teenagers may have a little bit more freedom, but still don’t let them use online chat rooms, online message boards, or the internet in general without at least a few rules.
One of the many rules that you may want to impose, concerning internet chat rooms and online message boards is approval. Instead of letting your child pick which websites they want to visit, you can do so for them. Favorite place the approved message boards and online chat rooms so that your child can easily find them.
As for how you can find safe chat rooms and message boards for your child to use, you will want to Read more
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Internet Dangers
Published: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 4:44 PM PST
The Internet is something that most of us use for, well, just about everything. From reading the news to banking to e-mail, there is practically nothing that we cannot find online.
So naturally, it is something that draws children too. There are a ton of games and Web sites specifically designed for children, and many parents who allow their children to use the Internet.
I am one of those parents. I am not, however, careless. Aside from the many discussions I have had with my 9-year-old son, Deven, about the Internet dangers, I also closely monitor what he does and where he goes.
He has his own profile on the computer, and we added bookmarks under his profile of Web sites he is allowed to go to. Any other site he wants to go to, he has to get permission first.
So far, he has been very good about sticking to the rules. I monitor where he goes and what he does, and he is usually somewhere in my line of sight, where I can “sneak up” behind him and take a peek.
There has not been anything he needed to hide. He does not go to any sites where he chats with people. There were a few games online that he could chat with other kids, but he knew to keep that limited too.
He learned his lesson once when he gave his password to someone who stole one of his game characters. I was glad for that, because it did teach him a lesson. I was also relieved that the only thing lost was his computer game character, but something important enough to him to make a lasting impression.
But he does know not to give out our home address or phone number. He definitely knows Read more
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What to Do When Your Child Will Not Follow Your Rules When It comes To Internet Safety
When it comes to internet safety rules that you have set in place, it is important that your child follows them. Why? Because their health and safety is, literally, at risk. Not following your internet safety rules should be treated differently than a child who doesn’t clean their room. The situation is much more serious. If your child doesn’t follow the rules that you have set concerning internet use, they may unintentionally find themselves a target of a child predator.
What you will want to do is re-talk to your child. Be sure that they are clear on your rules. For example, if your child is allowed to use social networking websites, what are they not allowed to have posted on their profile? Do you not want them to have personal information or personal pictures or videos shown? Restate all rules that you have for your child and instruct them to start following them right away.
If your child still isn’t following your internet safety rules all of the way, you will want to give them one final warning. Let them know that there are serious consequences to their actions. However, there is one important exception to this step. If you suspect that your child is communicating with strangers online, like those who may be Read more
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The Importance of Monitoring Your Child’s MySpace Use
If you are an avid internet user, there is a good chance that you have heard of MySpace before. As an avid internet user, you likely already know that MySpace is a social networking site that has took the internet by storm. As neat as MySpace looks from the standpoint of an internet user, you also need to look at it from the standpoint of a parent if you are one.
So, are you a parent whose child uses the internet? If you are, there is a good chance that your child is also using MySpace. Do you know? You may be surprised just how many junior high school and high school students use MySpace as a way to communicate with friends, as well as a way to meet new friends. Although all websites have the potential to be dangerous, MySpace, you can say, has an increased risk. For that reason, it is important to monitor your child’s use of MySpace.
As important as it is to hear that MySpace can be dangerous for children and teenagers, you may be looking for more information. Many parents are unaware of the dangers that MySpace and Read more
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Parental guidance: Web watch
The kind of ratings used for films could be applied to websites in a bid to better police the internet and protect children from harmful and offensive material, Britain’s minister for culture has said.
Andy Burnham told The Daily Telegraph newspaper that the government was planning to negotiate with the administration of US President-elect Barack Obama to draw up new international rules for English language websites.
"The more we seek international solutions to this stuff – the UK and the US working together – the more that an international norm will set an industry norm," the newspaper reports the Culture Secretary as saying in an interview.
Giving websites film-style ratings would be one possibility.
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"This is an area that is really now coming into full focus," Burnham told the paper.
Internet service providers could also be forced to offer services where the only sites accessible are those deemed suitable for children, the paper said.
Any moves to censor the internet would go to the heart of a debate about freedom of speech on the World Wide Web.
"If you look back at the people who created the internet they talked very deliberately about creating a space that governments couldn’t reach," Burnham told the newspaper. "I think we are having to revisit that stuff seriously now."
He said some content should not be available to be viewed.
"This is not a campaign against free speech, far from it; it is simply there is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it."
Burnham, who has three young children, pointed to the example of a 9pm television "watershed" in Britain before which certain material, like violence, cannot be broadcast, and said better controls were needed for the internet.
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