CYBER SAFETY!!!!

It's time to get serious about cyber safety! In this day and age where access to the "world" is literally at our fingertips, we have to be more vigilant than ever in keeping our children safe online, on their phones and on their gaming systems.

What can you do as a parent? An article from US-CERT reads...

• • • • Consider activities you can work on together (e.g. playing games, planning vacations, homework, putting together a family newsletter)

      • Keep your computer/gaming system in an open area to easily monitor the activity

      • Have child turn in their cell-phone every evening; not allowing them to keep it in their rooms overnight.

      • Set rules

        • Make sure your child knows the boundaries of what they are allowed to do on the computer, gaming system, cell phones, etc.

          • Include how long they are allowed to be active online

          • What sites they are allowed to visit

          • What software programs or apps they can or cannot use

          • What tasks/activities are allowed

      • Talk about the dangers of the internet so they can recognize suspicious behavior or activity

        • Discuss risks of sharing information (e.g. they are home alone) and the benefits to only communicating and sharing information with people they know. The goal isn't to scare them but to make them more aware.

        • Discuss cyberbullying

      • Monitor activity - be aware of what your child is doing on any electronic device that can access the internet, wifi, or cellular data

        • What websites they are visiting

        • Who they connect with online and whether they actually know them

      • Keep lines of communication open - let child know that they can approach you with questions or concerns about what they may have encountered on the computer.

      • Consider partitioning the family computer into seperate accounts - 

        • Give child seperate account with limited access and privilege

      • Consider implementing parental controls - 

        • E.g. restricting certain websites, placing passwords 

        • How to set up on Chrome/Chromebook

        • How to set up on other devices