Paedophiles online: parenting tips
Teach your youngest children never to give out personal information over the Internet. Tell them that it is safer for their own security and for that of the family not to reveal his or her name or address, age, telephone number, school name or friends' names or any other personal detail. Teach your children how to keep safe online, even though they don't seem interested in netsurfing. They could have an opportunity to have a try at school, in an internet café or at their friend's house. This is why they'd better know the simple and important rules to keep safe and protected while having fun online.
Spend time online with your children, especially the youngest ones, to learn about their interests and activities and suggesting which sites are safe to visit and which ones aren't.
Keep your home computer in a family areato monitor your children's activity betterwithout giving the impression of controlling them.
Set up the browser history functionwhich keeps track of the visited sites for a few days. Check the content of the computer hard disk periodically.
Teach your children (both pre-teens and teenagers) never to meet anyone in person that they've only communicated with online. Explain them that a computer connected to the Internet is a perfect tool for online predators who hide their criminal intentions behind lies and false identities, which sometimes can be very attractive.
Read the emails of your youngest children together with themand check all attachments. It is advisable not to open emails or emails attachments from unknown senders: they can contain viruses, trojans or spyware, which may harm your computer. Give the same instructions to older children.
Install a good antivirus and a firewall softwareand update them regularly, to protect your computer and whoever uses it.
Instruct your children to never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are, obscene, insulting, belligerent, suggestive or harassing; invite them to avoid foul or inappropriate language and to behave correctly on the Internet.
Explain that it can be dangerous to fill out forms onlineand advise your children that they shouldn't do it without first getting your permission.
Sit with your kids and help them create online nicknames to join chat rooms.
Do not let your children stay on the internet for too long.Limiting the online time of your children would reduce or minimize the risk of exposure from online hazards.
Use Internet filtering software, with a list of URLs to be blocked by default. Periodically, check it works correctly and keep the password secret.