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Cyber Space, a Safe Place?
4 Steps to Preteen Safety
By Sue Marquette Poremba
3. Know what your child is doing. That means taking the computer, or at least the Internet connection, out of the bedroom and restricting online time. TheParentDaily.com is a Web site that shows parents how to access their computer's cookies, read and record the history of sites visited and gives links to security sites parents will find useful. Taking computer time out of the bedroom is the best safety net of all, according to Pierce. "Kids with computers in their room are more likely to post personal information or risqu矰ictures," she says.
4. Know the dangers. Again, the more the parent knows, the better equipped they are to protect their preteen. Young girls are at the highest risk of being approached by a stranger. Also, cyber bullying and hate speech are rampant online. Girls, especially, get caught up in bullying, according to Dellasega. Reputations can be ruined and lives destroyed by the "nastygrams" posted on blogs.
Double Agent Brian Mierkey of the Geek Squad encourages parents to set up the parental controls that are available on every browser: "Click on tools. Scroll down to Internet Options. Choose the Security Tab. Click on Restricted Sites, and add the URLs you wish to restrict," he says.
Parents should remind their preteen to never post their real name, address or personal information on the Web, and they should not post that information about their friends. Predators will use tricks to get young people to reveal personal information, such as offering to send them coupons for a favorite store or a gift in exchange for a picture. Consequently, parents should also watch how much information they reveal about their children. Don't post pictures of your child for public viewing if you instruct your child not to post pictures, for example.