5 Tips to Create a Safe Environment While Your Kids Browse the Web

As a parent, it’s essential that you help your child navigate the internet safely at an early age. 

In the US alone, more than 200 million individuals have suffered at least one security breach — and this statistic included people of all ages and genders, potentially including young children. 

In this article, we’ll tell you why it’s essential to protect your kids while they learn to navigate the web and provide advice on how to explain internet safety to a child in simple words. 

Why is Internet Safety Important For Children?

The internet is an amazing resource that helps children interact with their peers, view educational content, and complete their school assignments. 

That said, the web is also filled with potential dangers, like:

• Adult content;
• Cyberbullies;
• Fraudsters and con artists;
• Violent criminals, including kidnappers and pedophiles.

Monitoring and educating your children while they surf the web can help minimize their chances of being targeted and help them enjoy digital content safely. 

How Do You Explain Internet Safety to a Child?

As with all lessons we teach to our children, it’s important to introduce the concept of internet safety without using fear tactics or giving orders without reason. 

Don’t say, “You can never open this link!” or “If you get a computer infected, you’ll get in so much trouble!” 

Instead, say something like, “Let me tell you why this webpage can be harmful to the computer” or “I’ll show you how to detect and avoid potentially dangerous websites.”

Kids need to know about the dangers that come with browsing online content. 

They should also be aware that the internet is a public space where it’s possible to find all types of opinions and points of view — but the simple fact of being online doesn’t make them accurate. 

Like much of parenthood, there is no silver-bullet solution to explaining the dangers of internet safety. 

Just make sure to adapt your approach based on the children’s age, avoid using fear, empower them to take control of the browsing experience, and make sure that your message is easy to understand. 

5 Tips to Create a Safe Web Browsing Experience for Your Child

Creating a safe browsing experience for your children is much more difficult than doing the same for yourself. 

This is because adults have experience interacting with legitimate content and consuming acceptable content. 

Children, on the other hand, haven’t developed that additional sense. Without this ability, kids are more susceptible to harmful content or cyber criminals that want to take advantage. 

To protect your little ones, you should follow steps like these.

1. Give Your Child the Right Resources

Kids don’t have long attention spans, so giving them a lot of information in one go isn’t the best way to help them.

Instead, you should give your children the right tools to succeed. For example, use printed lists to help remind them of the safety steps they need to adhere to. 

2. Encourage the Use of a Reliable VPN

A VPN or virtual private network is a tool that encrypts your device’s connection. 

So, when you activate a VPN on your child’s device, no one will be able to decipher the data being transmitted to and from this gadget. 

Ensure to obtain a quality VPN and encourage your child to use it when browsing the web.

3. Supervise Your Child’s Online Activities

Next, you should ensure that you’re in the same room whenever your children use the internet. 

This will help you supervise their behavior and keep a close eye on their online activities. 

4. Implement Parental Control

Whether it’s at a device or app level, you should implement a parental subscription wherever available. 

Besides selecting what content they have access to, you can also limit the amount of screen time your children get daily. 

5. Create Children’s Profile Where Possible

Popular streaming services and other content sites have specialized profiles created for kids and teenagers. 

It’s a good idea to create one or more children’s profiles whenever this option is available to help your kids stay engaged while also protecting them from potentially harmful content. 

Conclusion

There is no doubt that learning to use the internet is a crucial skill for school as well as other parts of your child’s future. However, it’s also your responsibility to ensure that your kids access the web in a safe environment. 

The tips above should help you create a safe space and teach your little ones how to avoid these dangers. 

* This article was originally published here