Internet Safety for Kids and Parents

Internet Safety Laws
The Children's Online Pricacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a federal law. It was created to help protect our kids online. It's designed to keep anyone from obtaining a child's personal information without a parent knowing about it and agreeing to it first.


Helpful Websites 
1. Basic Internet Safety
2. Safe Sites
3.Stay Safe Online



Kid Friendly Websites
1. netsmartzkids.org
2. Kid's Digital Library
3. Crayola Crafts





Internet Safety Video

Recent Statistics

• 95% of parents don't recognize the lingo kids use to let people know that their parents are watching
• 89% of sexual solicitations are made in either chat rooms or Instant Messages
• 20% of children age 10-17 have been solicited sexually online; that's 1 out of every 5 kids
• 75% of youth who received an online sexual solicitation did not tell a parent
• One third of kids have been contacted by a stranger and half of these were considered inappropriate
• 81% of parents of online youth say that kids aren't careful enough when giving out information about themselves online
• 76% of parents don't have rules about what their kids can do on the computer
• 65% of parents believe that kids do things online that they wouldn't want their parents to know about
• 4,000,000 children are posting content to the Web everyday
• 15,000,000 youth use Instant Messaging
• 9 out of 10 parents will never know that any inappropriate contact has occurred
• 14% have actually met face to face with a person they have met on the Internet
• 1 out of 17 kids have been harassed, threatened, or bullied
• Nearly three-quarters (73%) of online teens believe that someone their age is most likely to be approached by someone unknown to them online as opposed to offline
• When asked how they responded the last time they were contacted online by a complete stranger, just 3% of online teens said they told and adult or authority figure

                                                                                                                  
FOR PARENTS                                                                                      
1. Keep the computer in a public area of the house so they can be monitored.
2. Be informed. Become a net savvy parents and learn the basics click here.
3. Make guidelines for your children so they know what is appropriate when using the internet.
4. Use parental control software like Safe Eyes. Safe Eyes helps keep children out of inappropriate websites
    and only allows use of the computer for a certain period of time.
5. Take an interest to what your kids are doing online.


FOR KIDS
1. Never give out your name without knowing being positive who the other person is.
2. Inform parent if something makes you uncomfortable.
3. Use a gender neutral screen name.
4. Inform a parent when giving out your address, telephone, or photograph online
5. People are not always who they say they are. 

Recent News

Facebook has just announced they will be giving a grant of $200,000 as part of a safety program to encourage internet safety, prevent cyber bullying, and how the media can impact the next generation. By taking steps like this we are able to make a safer world where our kids will maintain their innocence and remain safe when using today's technology.