Children are ever more vulnerable these days especially when they are online. This is because there is a long list of dangers out there that threatens their lives. The advent of the internet has also to a very reasonable extent increased the concern of parents over their children.
This worry is frequently borne out of the fact that parents are often busy and they barely have time to check on their children, especially as social media is used to radicalize and recruit children into terrorist groups.
For this reason, it is very important for parents to protect their children and keep them safe from cyber bullies and terrorists. Jovago.com, Africa’s No 1 Hotel Booking Portal, Lagos, shares some tips on how to keep kids safe online.
Tech talk
This should be one of the first steps taken to protect children when they are venturing online. A little discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of being on the internet will help. The talk should include the effects of spending too much time online, visiting porn sites and encouraging them to inform you if they are bullied.
Parental control
Not every child will listen to the pep talk or admonition from their parents or guardians. To be on the safe side, the parent needs to activate the parental control on some of these devices. This can be done by blocking access to some insensitive websites that expose children to the ills of the Internet. You can also block Facebook and Twitter.
Save their passwords.
Since they are still within your control, you can persuade them to give you the passwords to all their accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, email and others. On your part, make sure you check their activities on each of these platforms.
To the child, it will seem you are snooping too much. Don’t be deterred. The fact is that you are protecting them from the impropriety of the Internet.
If you don’t want to have their passwords, you can follow their activities on social media anonymously. If you observe anything suspicious, you can either relieve him or her of the gadget or report to the police.
Limit Usage
Parents should limit the hours their children spend online. When they are home that should be the rule. To instil discipline, you can tell them to submit their phone every night to prevent them from spending the whole night browsing. A more extreme option is to deny them complete access to Wi-Fi or 4G.
Be a role model
Let your children learn from you. As a parent try not to spend the whole day online. Do not visit indecent websites and also be remember to clear the cache of adult browsing history when your children are home. It is advisable to be discreet online and be a model your children can imitate.
