August 2007

Children's Internet Safety
Watch this VPT & You spot by clicking here.



As the summer comes to an end, don’t forget to add internet safety to your back-to-school to-do list.

Keeping children safe in cyberspace begins with clear and firm family computer guidelines. The internet is a wonderful resource, but can also pose serious hazards including exposure to sexual solicitation, harassment and bullying.

As parents and caregivers, you can avoid such dangers by:

• Learning about the limitations of content filtering and blocking.
• Keeping computers in common areas and spending time online together.
• Be sure you know who your kids are sending emails to and who they're getting emails from.
• Stress to your children the importance of typing correct addresses, mistakes can bring us to sites we do not mean to visit.
• Bookmark your child's favorite sites.
• Forbid your child from entering private chat rooms.

Community Resources

It’s especially important to talk to your children about what they need to do to be smart and safe in cyberspace. For more internet safety tips, visit the following websites:

KidsHealth

Love Our Children USA

Netsmartz

SafeKids

WiredSafety

In partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and John Walsh, Cox Communications conducted a teen survey regarding internet use. Click here to view the “Teen Internet Safety Survey, Wave II.”

And be sure to watch VPT & You on-air updates, airing throughout our program schedule.