It was Internet safety day yesterday, and while I didn’t get to writing a post about it, I came across something that is aimed at children which worried me.
I am pretty vigilant with my boys lives online, which is probably a bit hypocritical considering how large my own online footprint is these days, but that probably makes me more aware of the possibilities.
My two had joined the growing army of young children who were playing Roblox. I would ask that all parents whose young children use it to exercise caution. Please research the reviews well and use the forums before you decide to allow your children to use it. I would recommend that this site be used for over 16’s and possibly over 18’s.
Obviously it is up to each parent to decide what their children have access to online, but I would stress to do your homework around the online world style games offered to children.
When I first read the access request, I felt reassured that it was similar to the Penguin Club style interaction which keeps it safe for children, but it is very different indeed.
Moving on to the positive, there is a yearly campaign that helps promote safer use of the Internet among children and young adults.
This year they ran with the tagline:
“Connecting generations and educating each other, with the slogan: “Discover the digital world together… safely!”
This videos I have attached to this post are quite powerful.
Our children and young adults can be easily led. We wouldn’t open our front doors to children and let strangers in, yet we don’t monitor our children enough online to ensure that they don’t open a portal to their safety bubble through the online world.
Be aware – check what your children are accessing, and who they are talking to. Try it out for yourself when they ask for access to a new Internet game or craze as that is the only way you are going to know if it is age appropriate or not.
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I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
Interesting post. I use Windows family Safety filter (it’s free to use) to track where my sons are going on the internet and I can block sites I don’t want them to go to. They have both used Roblox and have never had problems but they know never to give out their real names or personal information.
That first video was very powerful. I was shocked at some things people were saying to my son in “chat” on an age appropriate game. He now knows he is not allowed to go into chats. Shocking how many children have open profiles on sites such as Facebook. Great post.
Visiting from love all blogs.
Hi,
It’s Really a nice post and very useful for every one
Thank u
online games free to play
Internet has its advantage and disadvantage for the children. For academic purposes, a lot of sources that easily cope with. But, sometimes its not good for the children, maybe because a lot of websites that is not good for minors. So,give your children’s guidance every time.
You can take steps to prevent access to certain websites that are known not to be suitable for children but due to the rate of new sites on the internet all these products will always be one step behind the latest website.
Alongside different materials for teaching your children to be safe online one of the best methods is to lead by example, if you show your children how to search the internet properly and safely then this can be invaluable to your Childs safety online.
The concept is a little bit hard to grasp for most parents because the Internet was not a widespread thing when we were children.
It did not exist when I was a child at all. I was 25 before I first joined the Internet brigade so if I could do it and be an active online, then it is a little worrying that parents 10 to 20 years younger than I am can’t be bothered to.
Yes, there are parents who are not able to do it, and funnily enough, the most of those who I come across have made the effort to try. The ones I see who can’t be bothered tend to be the middle class nimby’s who seem to think nothing is ever going to touch them or their families.
Sad for their children.
The concept is a little hard to grasp for parents because we were no children when Internet became an everyday thing.
I think we can over react sometimes to things we read in the papers, and its easier to just let our kids get on with things in the internet.
Sadly keeping ourselves and our kids safe is a reality we have to work to keep the risk small by being sensible.