Internet Safety

This is a touchy subject for quite a few parents and it isn't because they don't want to protect their children, this is upmost in their minds. It is a touchy subject because many parents do not know how to monitor their child's time on the web. Children today are growing up with the Internet, it is a mainstay of their life, because of this they are learning the ins and outs quicker and better than most parents. Some parents have never even touched a computer, much less learn how to monitor what their children are doing.

I had a friend ask me how to monitor what her son was doing on the Internet because she didn't know how. This is the key, if you don't know what your children are doing and don't have an idea how to find out, ask someone. Here are a few of the ways I showed her how to monitor what her son was doing on the Internet.

1. Check the temporary Internet files to see what websites he has visited. This is a folder that saves what websites the computer has gone to for a certain amount of time.

2. Check the cookies folder. When you go to some websites, a cookie is downloaded to your computer to identify you on the website. You can view these and see what websites the child has gone to.

3. Make sure you have antivirus software on your computer. With Norton you can limit what type of sites your child can go to. If you find that they were able to go to a site that should have been blocked, let Norton know and they will add it to their list.

4. Check recent documents. This will show if they have viewed any documents that are inappropriate to include pictures.

5. Check the history folder. This is for the same reason as the temporary Internet folder. It will let you know what websites your children have gone to recently.

6. Turn on the logs in the chat room files. You will need to read through the logs to find out what has been said and who your child has been talking to.

7. Talk to your children, give approval for what sites you will allow them to go to. If you don't want them to talk on MySpace, then let them know or you can let them have access but only when you are around to monitor it.

There are quite a few different methods where you can monitor your children on the Internet, but it all comes down to that the parent has to take responsibility of monitoring what they are doing. The child is curious and wants to explore and learn new things, sometimes things that we as parents deem inappropriate. But this is our decision to make and it is up to us to enforce our rules and make sure that their lives are as safe as we can make them.