Child Safety on the Web

Teaching your children to live safely in the world is one of the most important parental duties. Teaching your children to surf safely provides additional challenges, because often the children are more competent computers users than their parents. How can parents teach their kids to surf safely?

Many sites are available to assist families with online safety.

Net Nanny provides information and an online safety policy for parents and kids. The web site is: http://www.netnanny.com/netnanny/staysafe.htm

Yahooligans, http://www.yahooligans.com/, is a search site especially for kids. Yahooligans recommends that parents teach their children to be "street smart" web users. They have a page on online safety, http://www.yahooligans.com/docs/safety including safety rules developed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Microsoft partnered with the Naperville, Illinois Police Department to develop the SafeKids Web http://www.microsoft.com/safekids/. This page contains a downloadable PowerPoint presentation and teacher guide available for child safety education. This presentation is available with audio narration. It illustrates how an adult posing as a child in a chat room for kids might fool another child into giving out dangerous information. The presentation can be used to teach children and adults to become more cautious and savvy Internet users.

Another online safety guide can be found at http://www.getnetwise.org. GetNetWise is sponsored by a number of Internet-related corporations. The site offers a variety of services, including websites for kids and descriptions of Internet risks for various technologies and age groups.

The Master Internet Volunteer Program was developed by the University of Minnesota Extension Service and was adapted for use in North Dakota with permission. Copyright  © 2001  North Dakota State University. All rights reserved.

North Dakota State University Extension Service