|
How much do you know about your children's
activities online?
Are you concerned? or, Are you like many
parents in that you don't understand it so you just trust what your
child is doing?
Fear not, help is on it's way.
Keeping children safe
online matters to BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin that's why the four major
broadband providers in the UK have launched Internet Matters.
Supported by leading
experts, the website points users in the right direction for
information, advice and support on internet safety. Internet
Matters brings you information, advice and practical tips on everything
that matters when it comes to children’s internet safety.
Showing you what to do,
and where to go for the best resources and support. Internetmatters.org
is the place to access simple, easy and practical advice to make
confident, informed choices about your child’s online safety.
Ok, I claim to be
internet savvy - even though I talk to people online all the time, I
have even met people from totz2teens - we have had family get-to-gethers
and holidays together with our families. I have always, always
said - this is not the way you should follow BUT if you look at what we,
as your parents, are doing in order to protect ourselves as much as
possible then they will see that it is not something we delve into
easily.
When you have
existed with an online life yourself it becomes hard to explain to a
child that rules are rules and not to be broken yet actually we are
going away with sugarplumfairy, zigga and lupin who are my friends.
In my house that
particular issue is raised because my husband also exists online and has
met friends eventually from his site.
In fact my best
friend is someone I met online and turned out to live around the corner.
These days we are
increasingly vulnerable and the need to encourage both ourselves and our
children to be sensible and safe is essential.
I was
amazed at some of the statistics shown around internetmatters.
How do you feel about this one?
60% of teens have been asked for a sexual
image or video of themselves. Worrying
isn't it?
Internet matters helps because you are
given a statement like this and then...
I find that internetmatters is great
because it is split into age groups.
Therefore you haven't got to read about
things that aren't perhaps relevant to your
own situation.
Learn about it, talk about it, deal with
it.
These simple steps really do work out the
best way of dealing with the issues raised.
I think this site gives plenty of advice
and I like the fact it connects with other
sites for further information if required
(although I noted it didn't link to
totz2teens - hehehe)
If you want to know about parental
controls from your service provider there is
an exceptionally handy link to the main
ones, mobile phone networks and even games
consoles too.
As a result of using
internetmatters.org I feel that parents will feel more confident when
dealing with their child and their activities online.
www.internetmatters.org
|
