How to Teach Cyber Safety to Your Kids
Computers are an important part of everyone's lives, including our kids.
With the computer and the internet as ubiquitous as TV, how do you teach your children to use the internet properly? After all, with the interactive nature of the internet, a child will come into contact with many other people if you allow her to browse online or send email.
So how can you teach your daughter proper internet and email etiquette? Email is not quite like snail mail.
Often email comes across differently than a letter and it's real-time back and forth nature can lead to some misunderstandings.
Here are some tips you can review with your tween to make sure she understands how to use email effectively.
1.
Keep you email address book up to date - people change email addresses all the time now, so be sure to update your address book with new emails and delete the outdated ones.
2.
Only send messages to those you want to - with the autofill option and confusing screen names, you want to stress that your daughter should be careful when filling out the To section of the email.
They'll want to double and triple check that the email is only going to the people they want it to.
3.
Beware the Reply All function - teach your children the difference between the Reply option - where the email only goes to the person who sent it and the Reply All option, where the reply will go to everyone on the list.
Very often it's not appropriate to reply to everyone.
4.
Say no to Spam - Sure your kids may know about the processed meat in a can, but teach them about spam on the internet.
Urban legends, myths, sob stories, jokes and chain letters have been making their way around the internet for years, but there is no reason you children need to keep the chain going.
Before they forward something they think is funny to their whole address book have them stop and think if it's appropriate to do so, and if it's just "junk" that will clutter up and in box 5.
Skip the attachments - for the most part, unless it's schoolwork related, tell your children to skip sending thing in attachments - a lot of email programs block these because they can easily be infected with a virus and they can take up a lot of room in an inbox.
Teach your children to send attachments carefully.
If they want to share things like pictures, consider teaching them to share a link from a sharing site like Flickr or Facebook 6.
Emails can go anywhere - More so than a physical letter, emails can be forwarded to anyone, anywhere.
Be sure to coach your kids on the importance of not writing anything in an email they wouldn't want anyone else to see - like "I can't stand so and so...
" They may think emails are private, but as parents well know, that's not really the case at all.
7.
Don't Overshare - this goes for email as well as social networking sites.
Teens and even tweens are flocking to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Allykatz and Club Penguin, where they can set up profiles, instant message and share things about themselves.
Remind your kids that these sites are filled with strangers and that they should never give out last names, addresses or other personal information.
Also tell them that when they chat, it's just like writing a letter and they should follow the old rule, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it...
" 8.
Teach them to say sorry - despite your best efforts, your child will make a misstep on email or the internet - they will forward something hurtful or make a comment that upsets someone.
Have them apologize quickly and fully for their mistake.
This will help ease the problem.
9.
Watch out for Cyberbullying - sometimes, your child will be the victim of hurtful things on email or the Internet - make sure your tween feels comfortable telling you about anything inappropriate - from peers making rude comments to emails from strangers.
And do something about it - contact the email sender, the website, even school officials.
Suggest your child change his or her email or social networking account, or better yet, take a rest from email and internet until the situation blows over or you have gotten to the bottom of it.
Internet etiquette can be tricky for both parents and kids, but it's important that you teach your children the dos and don'ts of email and social networking so they learn the proper way to use these great technological tools.
With the computer and the internet as ubiquitous as TV, how do you teach your children to use the internet properly? After all, with the interactive nature of the internet, a child will come into contact with many other people if you allow her to browse online or send email.
So how can you teach your daughter proper internet and email etiquette? Email is not quite like snail mail.
Often email comes across differently than a letter and it's real-time back and forth nature can lead to some misunderstandings.
Here are some tips you can review with your tween to make sure she understands how to use email effectively.
1.
Keep you email address book up to date - people change email addresses all the time now, so be sure to update your address book with new emails and delete the outdated ones.
2.
Only send messages to those you want to - with the autofill option and confusing screen names, you want to stress that your daughter should be careful when filling out the To section of the email.
They'll want to double and triple check that the email is only going to the people they want it to.
3.
Beware the Reply All function - teach your children the difference between the Reply option - where the email only goes to the person who sent it and the Reply All option, where the reply will go to everyone on the list.
Very often it's not appropriate to reply to everyone.
4.
Say no to Spam - Sure your kids may know about the processed meat in a can, but teach them about spam on the internet.
Urban legends, myths, sob stories, jokes and chain letters have been making their way around the internet for years, but there is no reason you children need to keep the chain going.
Before they forward something they think is funny to their whole address book have them stop and think if it's appropriate to do so, and if it's just "junk" that will clutter up and in box 5.
Skip the attachments - for the most part, unless it's schoolwork related, tell your children to skip sending thing in attachments - a lot of email programs block these because they can easily be infected with a virus and they can take up a lot of room in an inbox.
Teach your children to send attachments carefully.
If they want to share things like pictures, consider teaching them to share a link from a sharing site like Flickr or Facebook 6.
Emails can go anywhere - More so than a physical letter, emails can be forwarded to anyone, anywhere.
Be sure to coach your kids on the importance of not writing anything in an email they wouldn't want anyone else to see - like "I can't stand so and so...
" They may think emails are private, but as parents well know, that's not really the case at all.
7.
Don't Overshare - this goes for email as well as social networking sites.
Teens and even tweens are flocking to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Allykatz and Club Penguin, where they can set up profiles, instant message and share things about themselves.
Remind your kids that these sites are filled with strangers and that they should never give out last names, addresses or other personal information.
Also tell them that when they chat, it's just like writing a letter and they should follow the old rule, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it...
" 8.
Teach them to say sorry - despite your best efforts, your child will make a misstep on email or the internet - they will forward something hurtful or make a comment that upsets someone.
Have them apologize quickly and fully for their mistake.
This will help ease the problem.
9.
Watch out for Cyberbullying - sometimes, your child will be the victim of hurtful things on email or the Internet - make sure your tween feels comfortable telling you about anything inappropriate - from peers making rude comments to emails from strangers.
And do something about it - contact the email sender, the website, even school officials.
Suggest your child change his or her email or social networking account, or better yet, take a rest from email and internet until the situation blows over or you have gotten to the bottom of it.
Internet etiquette can be tricky for both parents and kids, but it's important that you teach your children the dos and don'ts of email and social networking so they learn the proper way to use these great technological tools.
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