Ways to Protect Our Children from Negative Internet Circumstances
As the Internet plays an integral part of our daily lives, the threats seem to increase to our children. Whether it is cyber-bullying, sexual predators, or malicious programming, our children need to be protected. Unfortunately, many of us don't have the money to put into state-of-the-art nanny protection. However, there are many ways that we can keep our children safe without spending a single dime on costly monitoring programs.
1. Involvement - First, and always foremost, you should be involved with your child's life regardless if he or she accesses the Internet or not. This involvement doesn't mean you need to hover over his or her shoulder, but more of a constant interaction with your child. Spending time with them while they are on the Internet can help you teach them what not to do and what to watch out for. If you could engage your child for a few hours per day online and off, it would make a world of difference in his or her behavior in nearly every area of their life.
2. Router Settings - If you have Internet connection at your home, there is a very good chance you also have a router of some kind. Did you know that most of the routers developed now-a-days have built-in firewall capabilities? This means you can block specific words of websites from entering your home - such as pornographic material and unwanted social sites. In fact, many of them can work in a variety of ways including: access day and times of the Internet, specific computers being blocked, and exact website URLs to block. If you don't know how to set these settings, take a few minutes and look up your routers model number on Google. You'd be impressed with what you can accomplish with tools already in your possession.
3. Monitoring Registration - For children under the age of 13, a parent is needed to help them set up registration for specific websites. Make it a rule that your email address is used for this registration. Most websites on the Internet today already have this parental option available and request parental email addresses anyway. If the child is registered with a website that you didn't authorize, ground them from the Internet for a specific amount of time. It may seem harsh to some, but rules are rules. If you have to be nosy in order to get the truth from your child, take a look at his or her browsing history. It will show you what sites they have been visiting.
4. Malware Protection - There are many anti-virus and anti-malware programs out on the market that cost money to operate in order to keep your child's computer safe from destructive applications. However, did you know that you could offer an unbelievable amount of protection and security from just two free programs?
Online Armor: When it comes to stopping programs from running, installing, or spreading, Online Armor does an incredible job. The free version is feature rich and allows you to password protect the program. This disallows any installations from happening without your password whether they are retail games or virus installations from the Internet.
Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware: Although Online Armor stops programs from installing and infecting your computer, downloading of the actual virus program is still possible. If for any reason you shut down Online Armor, the virus or malware application will immediately run infecting the computer. Periodically running Malwarebyte's Anti-malware will rid your computer of these annoyances.
These are just a few ways that you can keep your child safe from an ever advancing world. We can only do so much and the best we can hope for is that our measures can help quell some of the damage that the negative aspects of the Internet can cause. As the Internet is so influential in our lives, depriving the children from such a valuable resource is not the answer. Keeping involved with your children is.
1. Involvement - First, and always foremost, you should be involved with your child's life regardless if he or she accesses the Internet or not. This involvement doesn't mean you need to hover over his or her shoulder, but more of a constant interaction with your child. Spending time with them while they are on the Internet can help you teach them what not to do and what to watch out for. If you could engage your child for a few hours per day online and off, it would make a world of difference in his or her behavior in nearly every area of their life.
2. Router Settings - If you have Internet connection at your home, there is a very good chance you also have a router of some kind. Did you know that most of the routers developed now-a-days have built-in firewall capabilities? This means you can block specific words of websites from entering your home - such as pornographic material and unwanted social sites. In fact, many of them can work in a variety of ways including: access day and times of the Internet, specific computers being blocked, and exact website URLs to block. If you don't know how to set these settings, take a few minutes and look up your routers model number on Google. You'd be impressed with what you can accomplish with tools already in your possession.
3. Monitoring Registration - For children under the age of 13, a parent is needed to help them set up registration for specific websites. Make it a rule that your email address is used for this registration. Most websites on the Internet today already have this parental option available and request parental email addresses anyway. If the child is registered with a website that you didn't authorize, ground them from the Internet for a specific amount of time. It may seem harsh to some, but rules are rules. If you have to be nosy in order to get the truth from your child, take a look at his or her browsing history. It will show you what sites they have been visiting.
4. Malware Protection - There are many anti-virus and anti-malware programs out on the market that cost money to operate in order to keep your child's computer safe from destructive applications. However, did you know that you could offer an unbelievable amount of protection and security from just two free programs?
Online Armor: When it comes to stopping programs from running, installing, or spreading, Online Armor does an incredible job. The free version is feature rich and allows you to password protect the program. This disallows any installations from happening without your password whether they are retail games or virus installations from the Internet.
Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware: Although Online Armor stops programs from installing and infecting your computer, downloading of the actual virus program is still possible. If for any reason you shut down Online Armor, the virus or malware application will immediately run infecting the computer. Periodically running Malwarebyte's Anti-malware will rid your computer of these annoyances.
These are just a few ways that you can keep your child safe from an ever advancing world. We can only do so much and the best we can hope for is that our measures can help quell some of the damage that the negative aspects of the Internet can cause. As the Internet is so influential in our lives, depriving the children from such a valuable resource is not the answer. Keeping involved with your children is.
Author Bio:
Jack Meyers is a regular contributor for www.nannybackgroundcheck.com. As a detective he wants to spread the knowledge of terrible things that can happen when people don’t fully verify the credentials of a caregiver or any employee. He also writes for various law enforcement blogs and sites.
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Marcia,
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful post that I hope all parents and grandparents will read and use. Thank you very much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and have a great week!
Come Back Soon,
Miz Helen
This is excellent. I'd love to have you share this at what to do Weekends Party also. Linda Following on Pinterest.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.craftsalamode.com/2013/04/what-to-do-weekends-15.html