Kids Safety
Today’s parents are facing a lot of challenges trying to answer rather difficult questions: «How to teach PC literacy to children?», «Which programs are appropriate for my children in terms of age?», «How to prevent kids from viewing inappropriate content and developing Internet addiction?», or «How to safeguard data and money from the kids’ carelessness?». We prepared a series of articles to help you on this quest. All recommendations are ranged in accordance with a certain age, but we urge you to read all of them, independently of how old your own kids are. Here they are: advices for parents of kids from birth to five and of kids from six to eleven.
From twelve to sixteen: self-awareness
Teens feel comfortable navigating the digital world and do not need their parents’ help in exploring new things anymore. However, they still need support and protection, even though they would never acknowledge that. By this age, your kid should know the basics of security and have an assessment of threats he/she might encounter online. There are still issues to discuss openly and technologies, which should be used to protect his or her digital life from now onward.
Means of protection
- First and foremost, don’t forget about using the antivirus. Keep its databases up-to-date and don’t leave this task to your kid. Even if he is savvier than you are when it comes to tech, make database updates your responsibility.
- Continue using parental control on all devices, but bear in mind that your child will have learned certain tricks to bypass it. Use a long and strong password and don’t let it lay written somewhere around.
- If you used Apple devices with the FamilySharing feature before, keep doing that.
- If your kid uses Steam (a platform to purchase and download games), you should create a user profile yourself and use the similar FamilySharing capability.
- Continue to keep an eye on your kid’s activity online. Do not do it often, but your teen needs to know this ‘safety checks’ are unavoidable.
Things to show and tell
- Talk about everything. Listen to your kid’s stories, even to the most mundane ones. Ask questions, discuss the things you found out when looking at your kid’s online profile. Remember that gaming is not the threat itself, and your child’s desire to chat with friends is not yet Internet addiction.
- Don’t leave hobbies aside! Beyond the digital world, there is the huge real world with activities your kid might find interesting for him/herself, his/her friends or even his/her parents.
