Children this day live their lives on the internet especially the youth, through mobile phones, laptop, desktop, Ipad, game consoles. Children get on line with this technology, could be in school or at home. Don’t get me wrong, the use of internet have its advantage and disadvantages. Most home work and research in schools today is internet base. The use of internet has helped a lot in the communication, education and entertainment aspect, however it can also pose as a danger zone for children because it exposes children to disturbing images and information, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, cyber bulling. Take cyber bulling for instance, it is a form of bulling that occur using electronic devices whether on gaming sites ( children playing internet games with other people who are connected) or on mobile phones, social network sites; text messages, chats, could be a mean text message or email, rumors posted on social networking sites, embarrassing pictures or videos. The effect can be devastating for children and youth. The sad part is that in most cases it can be very difficult to trace the bully. If it is a picture that has been send it is always very difficult to delete. The internet is such a big and open world that anybody can do any it, as a result a lot of children have been hurt; some are experiencing cyber bulling, sexual abuse, and verbal abuse at present. Trust me; the motive of parents, in providing these technologies is to aid children not to harm them so it’s our responsibility to know how to keep them safe on line. some parents feel they don’t really understand how the internet works that their children know more than them, forgetting that technology changes on a day to day basis and the best way to stay informed is to get involved (understand the internet and how it works) sometimes sit with your children tell them to show you what they are doing and how it works, who said it is too late to learn. Moreover, here are some safety guides that parents should discuss with their children on the use of internet; home boundaries on the use of internet must be put in place; state it in clear terms to the children the sites they can visit and the ones that they are not allowed to visit, when they are on line. The cyber bulling should be talked about seriously because the best way to avoid or stop bullying on line is actually working together with your children by encouraging them to tell you once somebody start bulling them. Encourage your children to block the bully, or delete their contact but not to destroy the evidence if it is a test message in case they have to trace the identity of the bully, if the bully is from school it will be easy for the authority to take action. For younger children internet should not be installed in their phones until they are older. The home desk top or lap top should be place in an open place in the house, for easy checks, while occasionally parents should ask for their children’s laptop, ipad, to see the sites their children have been visiting. Assure and support your children, show them love so they don’t start seeking love on the internet especially they ones who go on the internet to socialise, based on this, explain to them that there are people on the internet that pretend to be someone else that truly care about them with bad motive such people try to make contact with children through social networking sites; you find them in chat rooms and on line games. Children need to know that people like this exist on the internet. As a result they should be very care of the people they add as friends and also be mindful of the information they share out there. Educate them about friends on line; they should not accept a friend’s friend as their friend on line. Remind your children to think before putting out their pictures, videos, or comments on the internet because anyone can have access to it. Today our children do not go on line, they are on line, and the internet is with them all the time. Take the mobile phone for instance; they have it on them always and they are forever typing (chatting) oh! All their activities are put out there for everyone to read and this is dangerous. The way forward is for parents to keep talking to their children about the danger out there on the internet so a collaborating conversation will help to keep children safe on the internet. Furthermore, make sure that your children understand that they should never arrange to see any one they only know on line (internet). Discourage them from chatting with strangers. Parent should talk to their children about relationship so that when they stumble on pornography images on the internet, they will understand that it is not applicable in the really world. In spite of the above parents can also install child protection/ parental control devices on their children’s computers in order to block certain sites that are in appropriate. These sites can be downloaded on the internet for free: Norton Online Family: is free software that allows parents monitor the websites their children visit as well what the search for on line and who they chat with. Parents can have a time set for children on how long the can be on line, and even see all their children’s activities, email report follows as well. Windows live Family safety: this is Microsoft’s free parental controls software; it is part of Windows Live Essentials Package that includes MSM messenger and Microsoft’s webmail client. Users can block specific sites and applications as well as controlling how long their children can use the computer. AVG family safety, this software allows parents to create profiles for each child; it can also be adjusted as the child gets older. The software blocks inappropriate content like pornographic sites and so on. Others are K9 Web protection 4.0.296, PGSurfer. Finally as parents we should work close with the school, because it is important that we check on the school to know the policy they have in place on the use of technology in school. The safety of our children on the internet must be emphasis both at home and in school.
A problem shared is a problem half solved.
