How to protect your children on the Kindle Fire. How to keep your child accountable while on the Kindle Fire.
Have you given an Android Tablet or Kindle Fire to your child this Christmas? These tablets and Pads are great fun for our children, but they can also open up a real temptation. If you would like to get a report of every website your child visits on their Kindle Fire or Android Tablet check out 3X Church’s Andorid App called X3 Watch.
|
||||||
Does your child have a new iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad? Safe Eyes for iOS is free until January 1st. Click the banner on the sidebar to the Safe Eyes site for more information or visit iTunes on your apple device.
The New York Daily News reports that nearly 20% of 10 and a third of 11 year olds are on facebook as reported by their parents.
To read the article click here: NY Daily Article
Many concerns are raised when young children are on the internet. Besides false representations, parents may be opening up their children to temptations and dangers.
At Cyber Safety Seminar we recommend that parents wait until 13 to join facebook. We also recommend that parents first go through Journal of My New Computer before giving their child an account. Journal of My New Computer is a 10 lesson story that will help parent and child talk about potential issues before going online with a social networking account.
If you still have not purchased your copy of Safe Eyes – you can get a 20% discount for a limited time:
Devices @ Christmas : Use Safe Eyes to filter naughty from nice for 20% Promo code twittersafeeyes http://mcaf.ee/f8rvs
Save 50% on Safe Eyes Parental Control Software. Use promo code “cyber” during checkout on November 28 to save $25 on your first year!
Many parents continue to assume that children will know what is appropriate and what is not. However, the problem of sexting, that is, sending personal, sexually inappropriate photos via a cell phone, continues to rise. Now the practice is more prevalent with middle and even elementary school students. Parents must step up and train as well as hold their children accountable.
But parents should not only warn and protect, parents must join together with churches and schools to help children understand proper sexual rolls and purposes! Without proper training our girls will default into thinking they need to be sexually attractive to be admired, some doing nearly anything to gain the eyes of man. Without proper training our boys are turning their natural aggression into sexually aggressive behaviors as well as drowning themselves into video games and gambling.
Perhaps the most disturbing of these trends is how younger and younger children are exhibiting very inappropriate behaviors that have the potential to severely hurt them and their reputations.
Here is a news report on the problems of sexting at younger ages: Younger Kids Are Sexting
The FBI has a designated page for parents on how to keep children safe on the internet and how to report Cyber crimes.
You can visit the FBI page here: http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/parent-guide
The FBI says “The most important factors in keeping your child safe on-line are the utilization of appropriate blocking software and/or parental controls, along with open, honest discussions with your child, monitoring his/her on-line activity, and following the tips in this pamphlet.”
If you are looking for a top of the line blocking software we recommend Safe Eyes: http://colossians2.com/cyber/filters/
facebook says you need to be 13 to join. But parents are increasingly allowing younger and younger children onto the social networking site. In part due to a “sense” of security. but do children need to be on social networks at an early age? Do parents bring children to parties with them? do they bring the little ones at the fitness club or for coffee or tea with the friends?
Unfortunately, some parents do and often expose children to inappropriate material and put off family and friends. One site things they have a way to allow you to monitor your children on facebook. But is this wise?
Read about Piggyback here: http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/05/media-chaperone-launches-piggyback-app-to-let-parents-monitor-kid-gamers-on-facebook/
From: http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2011/07/06/3262628.htm in Australia:
Anecdotally, and according to some statistics, the majority of parents with younger teens are simply not turning up to cyber safety educational talks held at schools and community centres. They are not educating themselves using online resources either. This is a growing concern for educators and efforts are being made to find out why. We can assume it’s NOT because the majority of parents know all there is to know about online safety and gaming. If educators and the government can find out why parents are resistant to being educated about cyber safety, then together they can start to try to reverse that trend.
This is not just a problem in Australia. Here in the US many parents are living in denial. Unfortunately, this has made it easier for many children to gain easy access to inappropriate material on the internet. For some children this will begin life long addictions. For others there will be unneeded heartache or victimization.
Please, make sure you are properly protecting your children!
KMOV TV in St. Louis has an article on a tool to help parents keep children safe online. In the article the St. Louis-based INOBTR (I Know Better) campaign for internet safety claimed you shouldn’t have to buy anything to keep your child safe.
“We feel it creates a false environment in the home, and what we want to foster is a very truthful and open communications policy in the home,” Kelly McMahon says. “We feel that a monitoring software violates that.”
McMahon says teaching cyber safety and having a good talk with your kids is free.”
I have heard this reasoning before. The argument goes something like this:
If you get an internet filter you will naturally get “lazy” and no longer properly parent. Since there is no substitute for proper parenting when it comes to keeping your child safe you should not buy an internet filter.
But honestly, we don’t fall for such reasoning elsewhere in our lives. Do we say to our teenager, “don’t wear your seat belt when you drive because it will give you a false sense of security and I don’t want you to think you will always be safe by wearing a seat belt – instead I want you to stay alert and drive carefully?” Of course not! We want them to do BOTH! Stay alert AND wear their seat belt.
Parents, please continue to do BOTH. Engage your children and protect them with a good quality filter! One does not render the other unnecessary. Instead they both come together to help protect your child.
If you are looking for a good filter we recommend Safe Eyes. Click here for more information: Internet Filters.
If you are looking for a great conversation starter with your middle school or early high school child use our Journal of My New Computer.
If you are looking for conversation starters on how to treat others which are great for your high school child check out http://othersabove.org.
