Are Your Kids Online? Keep Them Safe!

With an ever increasing social media world available online, what are you doing to protect your kids and keep them safe? It is so important to keep kids safe from cyberbullying and other online dangers! Do you allow your children to use different social media networks like Facebook, twitter, and others? If your children are online then it is important that you talk to your children about how to be safe and what is and is not appropriate online. Here are a few tips on how you can help protect your children online.

• Follow your children’s online accounts. Be sure you “friend” or “follow” your children’s social media accounts and set their updates to show up in your feed. If your child won’t let you follow their account you should be wary of what they are trying to hide. This will also allow you to watch what types of people they are adding as friends.
• Check out “Friends” you don’t know. First, talk with your child and let them know they should never add a person as a friend that they don’t know from real life. If you see your child adding people you have never heard them talking about it may be time to start up a conversation and get to know the people they call friends.
• Monitor cell phone usage. There are many apps available that can help you monitor cell phones. The important thing is to make sure your child doesn’t feel like anything goes with their phones. You don’t have to completely step in and remove any level of privacy, but you can keep tabs on numbers they call or text frequently just by using your cell phone bill.
• Talk to your children! The most important thing is to start up an open conversation with your children and discuss any questions and concerns they might have. Be sure to let them know that it is never okay to bully and if they find themselves being bullied, even online or through texting, that they should let you know about it. It is important for children to understand that “virtual” spaces should not be treated differently than face-to-face interactions and the same rules apply.

What steps are you taking to keep your children online? Do you think there is cause to be concerned with children joining an online social atmosphere?

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by uKnowKids.