Our children were born in the Internet era. Prohibiting them from connecting is impossible, but not all children are prepared to start sailing. Our children are digital natives and need Internet for their daily lives, but we must know when they are prepared and give them guidelines to do so safely .
One in three Internet users worldwide is a child, and young people represent the most connected age group, according to the study The State of the World’s Children 2017: Children in a digital world developed by UNICEF. This situation poses a challenge to parents when it comes to treating their connected children. To keep them safe, here we given you some tips.
1. Know the dangers
If our child is going to start surfing the Internet they should be clear that they should never provide their personal information. For example, their first name, last name, address, mobile number, school address or photographs. All these data can pose a risk to their safety in their daily life.
In addition, we must take into account the importance of protecting them from certain content. According to a study almost half of the minors have encountered pornography on the Internet more than once without having explicitly searched for it. The concern that children have access to these pages begins when they turn 9, according to the report ‘ Minors and the Internet. However, only 26% of parents in our country use a tool to protect them from these spaces.
2. Differentiate reliable sources
Our child has to know that not all Internet sources are reliable. There are false news or fake news and even inappropriate or malicious comments. Internet is a source of information in which it is necessary to differentiate the reliable contents from those that do not.
3. For any risk, ask for help
If at any time the preteens or teenagers notice that they are exposed to some type of risk, they should always be confident enough to ask an adult for help. Bullying or digital harassment is one of the great dangers of social networks and the Internet. If parents notice a change in behavior in children, they should always to try to askthem what is happening.
4. No more than 2 hours
Internet is a world unknown to our children and can become an addiction. Experts recommend that children do not spend more than 2 hours sailing and do other activities such as sports, reading or just go outside to play.
5. Use parental control app
As an extra layer of security, use specialized tools such as parental control app and monitor every activity of your kid. With any advanced app such as FamilyTime, parents cankeep their kids away for inappropriate content simply by enabling safe search option for them or by implementing internet filters.
Not only that, parents can also make the children leave the screens and sit at the table, because this application allows you to block it for a certain period of time. This tool is quite good.
6. Set an example
Our children learn by imitation. If we are connected to the Internet at all times, they will understand what they should do and imitate us. We also have to limit our use of the Internet and social networks and promote healthy habits in our family. Sedentary lifestyle and as a consequence obesity are one of the consequences of inappropriate use of the Internet and social networks.
Internet is a great tool and can be very useful to our children. Even essential on many occasions. But they should always use it with common sense and without absorbing all their time. Our children have many things to experience in their childhood and adolescence. Now they have the opportunity to do it also through the Internet, but we must not let them monopolize them all the hours of the day.