Due to the lockdown, parents bought smartphones, tablets, and laptops for their kids to keep them busy. However, as good as that may seem, you may know that the internet is not the safest place for your child. Child pornography, bullying, kidnapping, among others are prevalent on the internet. Still, there are ways you can make the internet a safe space for your child. This article will be discussing these ways, so keep reading!
Ways to Protect Your Children on the Internet
Speak with Your Child About What They Do Online/Do Online Activities with Them
You should have a friendly conversation with your child immediately after they start using the internet. Let them know that although the internet may be a fun place, it can also be dangerous. Let them know about cyber-bullying, child kidnapping, child pornography, etc. Of course, the age of the child will determine the type of conversation you have and the language you use. Just make sure your conversation is as open and honest as possible.
You can help them by drawing up a list of child-friendly apps that they can download for use. Make sure to ask them questions and talk to you about their favorite apps. Also, let them know that if they ever run into any trouble on the internet, they can talk to you about it.
Another great way to protect your child on the internet is by joining them to do online activities. Not only does this help you to know firsthand which sites and apps they are using, but it also helps you both bond. Now, you have to be careful here. You do not want to come off as the parent who pokes their noses into your child’s business. This can cause the child to deliberately hide what they actually do online from you and show you fake activities instead.
Rather than commanding them to share their online activities with you, you can simply ask in a friendly tone if they want you to join them. If the child says yes, then you can join. If they say no, then you do not have to insist. You can simply have an honest talk with them on why it is important for you to do their online activities with you.
Tell Them to Turn off Their Location/Know Their Online Friends
Google, most sites, apps, and even devices have the geotagging option. When this option is turned on, it immediately lets people know your location online. This way, other people can see it and tell where you are at the moment. If you want to avoid strangers tracing your child to your home, then you have to turn off this option. It is simple: In your device or app settings, go to the “Location” and turn this off.
Another way to protect your child online is by knowing who their online friends are. While you can meet good people on the internet, you can also meet bad people who pretend to be good people. Sadly, children may not be able to tell the difference, making them easy victims to bad people. You can stop this by knowing who your child’s online friends are. As expected, your child may not freely give you access. However, you must let them understand why it is important for you to know.
Use Google’s Safesearch Filter
Even though you have a conversation with your child about what to do and what not to do online, you still have to enforce some rules yourself. As a user of the internet, a child is still vulnerable to viewing lewd and sexual photos. The worst part is that children who do this may do so in the presence of their parents without them knowing. As a parent, you can avoid this situation by turning on Google’s SafeSearch filter.
Google’s Safesearch is a type of control that prevents a user from seeing explicitly sexual and violent content online. To turn this on, simply go to the settings on your browser and click Safesearch. The SafeSearch filter will block sites that show this type of content. With this turned on, you can rest assured that your child is being exposed to anything that could harm them online.
Sadly, Google’s SafeSearch filter does not guarantee a 100% block from violent or sexual content. So, despite it being turned on, your child may still get access to some of those sites.
Install Spyfer
Spyfer is an app that lets you fully control and monitor your child’s online activities for free. This lets you check out your child’s social networks including Instagram and Twitter. It also lets you find out if a bad person is trying to get to them. Simply download, install and connect.
Conclusion
With these solutions listed in this article, you can make the internet a safe space for your child and protect their innocence.