Educate and Engage with Your Children for a Safer Online Experience

Fred  Lane, author of Cybertraps for the Young,  reports the average American child now owns a cell phone by the age of 10 and 80 percent of those 10 year olds own at least one gaming console that can be used to access the web. Astonishingly, nearly one in four kids under the age of 5 now uses the Internet regularly

What these statistics tell us... it is never too early to talk to your children about Internet safety. Children are being exposed earlier and earlier to computers, cell phones, iPads, iPods and online gaming, just to name a few.  Parents today do not have a choice but to educate and engage with their children about the Internet and staying safe when online.  Parents would not let their children talk to strangers in real life, so why would it be okay to become “friends” with strangers online.

Here are three key facts to educate your children about and post next to the family computer:

1. Nothing on the Internet is private
2. People online are not always who they say they are
3. People are not always truthful online

If children can engage in these three facts, it is a good start for a safer online experience in the ever advancing digital age.