How to control what your kids see on the Internet

The Internet is a vast electronic playground that contains some wonderful educational and recreational resources for children of all ages. Unfortunately, it also contains lots of material of a more ‘adult’ nature that will be of concern to any responsible parent.

We all know about the many sex sites available on the Internet, but there are other things that you need to protect your kids from as well. There are many websites that promote religious or racial hatred, and chat rooms hold the threat of adults masquerading as children in order to lure children into conversation. The recent popularity of ‘instant messaging’ software also raises the possibility of children coming into contact with potentially dangerous adults.

Ultimately, the best way to protect your children from these threats is to sit with them and watch as they learn how to use the Internet. However, there are some tools that you can use to give yourself a little extra peace of mind.

Set up Internet Explorer's built-in content filter

A child's natural curiosity is such that that you probably won’t be able to restrict their Internet activity. So when your kids start to roam the rest of the Internet there are a number of things that you can do to provide some added protection. First of all you can use Internet Explorer’s built in ‘content filter’ to try and limit your child’s access to unsuitable material.

History Lesson

As well as blocking unsuitable websites, some of these programs can also work in conjunction with chat-rooms and instant messaging software. They will monitor all messages sent to your child and block a message if it detects certain words that you can specify yourself.

Most of these programs will also compile a log of websites that your children have visited, so you can check to see what they’ve been doing while you were washing the car or cooking the dinner. Remember too, that clicking on the History button in Internet Explorer will display a list of websites that have been visited recently.

Hire a 'net nanny'

To provide an added layer of protection you can use what’s known as a ‘net nanny’ program. A net nanny is a program that monitors your child’s activities while they are on the Internet and attempts to block unsuitable material. These programs work in a number of different ways. Some programs contain a list of banned websites and prevent the web browser from visiting these sites. Other programs work by scanning webpages for specific words, such as ‘sex’ or ‘sleaze’ and will block access to any page that contains these words.

Popular net nanny programs include:

Net Nanny

Cybersitter

Cyberpatrol

Most of these programs are available as a free trial version, so you can try them out before deciding if you want to pay for the full version. You can also obtain a special web browser for kids, called Surf Monkey, which is available free of charge from Surfmonkey.

Surf Monkey has its own content filter built into it, and the Surf Monkey website contains many games and chat rooms that are monitored by adults, so this is a good place to let your kids roam freely.

Tips for safe surfing

None of these net nanny programs is foolproof, though. Lists of banned sites can quickly go out of date, and scanning a webpage for bad language is pointless if the page contains nothing but photographs. There was even an incident when a well-known fast-food chain gave away its own net nanny program as part of a sales promotion. The program contained a list of banned sites, but it didn’t take long for some smart kids to locate the list and discover all the web addresses that the program was supposed to protect them from.

Which is simply a way of pointing out that many kids know more about the Internet than their parents, so it really isn’t wise to rely upon a piece of software to protect your children for you. But because your kids are so smart you can sit down and explain a few sensible precautions to them.

Tips for safe surfing:

Never give your home address, telephone number, or the name of your school to anyone you talk to on the Internet.

Never send anyone a picture of yourself unless your parents have given permission.

Never arrange to meet anyone that you’ve spoken to on the Internet without asking your parents. If you arrange a meeting your parents should accompany you, and it should always be in a public place.

If anyone sends you an unpleasant message in a chat room you should leave straight away and tell your parents.

Do not reply to any message that makes you feel uncomfortable.

Never open email messages that come from someone you do not know – especially if there are file attachments with the message.

Always tell your parents or teacher if you see anything unpleasant on the Internet.