Online Safety and Kids

Last month, I shared the fabulous news about my family and the new project that we are working on:

We are a Digital Joneses Family! What's Your Security IQ?

I even linked to an online security quiz that you could take and if you haven't yet, I highly recommend it.

This month we are talking about online safety and our children. All three of my children (ages 9, 7 and 5) LOVE being on the computer.

They are on several online networks. They are Skyping their grandparents. They are playing games. They are using Netflix. They truly are digital kids.

As a result, I am tasked with…well…being a parent and as a parent, I want to know at all times what my kids are doing. So I sat down with my newly turned 9 year old to find out what he knew about online safety.

ME: Do you know what cyberbullying is?

SON: Yeah…it is when someone is mean to someone else online.

ME: Do you know anyone that this has happened to?

SON: YES! I SURE DO!

ME: {surprised} Who?

SON: It happened to Freddie once on iCarly. There was an entire show about it. I know all about cyberbullying.

ME: Ok…{a few moments of stunned silence} Well what about people talking to you online? Has a stranger tried to talk to you online before? Anyone you don't know?

SON: YEAH. In Club Penguin all of those other penguins are always trying to talk to me. It is annoying. They need to concentrate on their game and not chatting to me.

ME: {exasperated sigh}

SON: I do have something to tell you about all of this though.

ME: {excited that he might be getting it just a little} What is it?

SON: Punch buggy, no punch back. RED! It is right there. I GOT YOU!

ME: {another exasperated sigh} {probably one more exasperated sigh}

SON: And one more thing mommy….I know not to talk to people online. I know not to go to any websites you haven't checked out first. I know not to click anything that pops up on my screen. I also know not ot buy anything online without asking you first.You have told me all of this before and I remember.

ME: I am proud of you, H.

SON: Yeah ok. Now can we go watch iCarly or something?

While I am pretty sure that my son grasps the concept of online security because it is something that we talk about often, I also know that it is something we need to keep talking about so it stays top of mind with him. We talk about it with our younger daughters as well.

Find the complete questionnaire with questions for kids of all ages here.

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT ONLINE SAFETY WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR CHILD

– Talk to your child. Do not depend on your child to come to you. Open a dialogue, ask the hard questions and make they certain that they answer you.

– Download the “How to Start a Discussion With Kids about Online Safety” from Trend Micro today and put it on your refrigerator. This gives you a great place to start when it comes to talking to your kids about online safety.  Check out General Internet Safety Tips for Families as well.

– Monitor your child on a daily basis. Check out what they are doing when they are online and ask them to show you.

– Check out the program from Trend Micro called Online Guardian for Families. This program monitors your kids online activity 24/7. Each child gets their own passcode and you can set permissions based on age. You can filter out adult and inappropriate content plus protect against cyberbullying and predators. This software works with many social networking websites and tt shows web browsing history, wall postings, messages, photos and chats. In a nutshell, it keeps them safe.

Find out what we thought of the the security software from Trend Micro: Digital Joneses: Trend Micro's Titanium Maximum Security Software

Keep up with all of the Digital Joneses families here.

Disclosure: The Digital Joneses Study will include gadgets for myself and my family. Although we have been provided with these products to help evaluate the challenges within the study, the opinions, thoughts and statements expressed on this blog remains our own and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Trend Micro.