The online world mirrors the real one: it includes the good,
         the bad, and the ugly. This page highlights tips for e-mail,
        the web, and chat rooms. When dealing with children and
       the internet, the bottom line is safety, and the links below
   will give you some tips to keep your children safe.

• Tap your child's natural sense of wonder and discovery and temper it with your experience and counsel.
• Let your child take the lead, but stay with him or her until you've decided the activity is appropriate.
• Spend as much "cybertime" with your child as you can.
• Provide your child with clear, simple instructions about how to avoid danger and what to do if something happens.
• Set limits appropriate to your child's age.
• Talk to your child often about his or her computer/online life.
• Monitor, monitor, monitor (time, phone bills, chat groups, on-screen materials).
• Use online experiences as another way to teach responsibility, good conduct, and values.

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DANGERS/RISKS

• Offensive language and adult conversation
• Because of its interactive nature, a chat room or chat group is the most likely activity online through which children will encounter people who want to harm them
• Too much time online, which limits a child's well-rounded development by taking the place of friends, schoolwork, sports and other activities.

PARENTING TIPS

• Accompany your child into chat rooms until he or she learns your safety rules.
• Teach your child to never give out personal information such as his or her name or address, school name or address, or anything else that is personally identifying.
• Explain that people are not always who, or the age, they say they are.
• Set a rule that your child never arranges an in-person meeting.
• Limit your child to specific chat rooms or consider blocking out chat rooms entirely.

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DANGERS/RISKS

• Innocent-sounding website titles may camouflage pornographic or lewd web sites.
• Easy-to-find sites with sexually explicit images and text
• Easy-to-find sites promoting hatred, bigotry, violence, drugs, cults, and other things not appropriate for children.
• Inaccurate, misleading, and untrue information
• No restrictions on marketing products such as alcohol or tobacco to children
• Marketing that deceptively collects personal information from kids in order to sell products to them or their parents
• Requests for personal information for contests, surveys, etc., that are used in unauthorized ways
• Easy access to games with excessive violence and gender stereotypes

PARENTING TIPS

• Keep computer in family area to better monitor your child's activity
• Regularly spend time online with your child to learn about his or her interests and activities.
• Teach your child... "You can end any online experience when you feel uncomfortable or scared. Just press the back key, log off, and tell a trusted adult as soon as possible."
• Establish an atmosphere of trust and understanding with your child by not blaming him or her for uncomfortable online experiences
• Discuss the difference between advertising and educational or entertaining content and show your child examples of each
• Show your child the difference between sources of information that are credible and those that are not
• Teach your child never to give out personal information unless he or she has your permission and you know how, and by whom the information will be used
• Establish strict rules for ordering products (and then monitor your credit card bills)
• "Talk back" to internet service providers and content creators to let them know what you want and expect from them in keeping kids safe online.

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DANGERS/RISKS

• Strangers, at times pretending to be someone else, can communicate with your child
• Harassing messages
• Unsolicited e-mail ("spam"), usually about sites with sexually explicit material, products for sale, or moneymaking schemes.

PARENTING TIPS

• Share your child's e-mail account and password
• Talk with your child about the people that he or she is meeting online
• Set a rule that your child never arranges an in-person meeting without you present
• Complain to the sender of unsolicited e-mail and to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) about unwanted e-mail.

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Information provided by:
Wayne County RESA in conjunction with i-WATCH, a service of the Wayne County Sheriff's Department