Our kids are becoming more and more tech-savvy. They are on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Whatsapp and indiscriminately surfing all the corners of the Internet. My 8-year-old daughter, for example, does not bat an eyelid in grabbing my phone and streaming all the music videos that she can every time I arrive home. The online world is not that safe though.
There are online bullies, predators, paedophiles and all sorts of bad people who would take advantage of your innocent kid without your knowledge. It is only a year ago when suicide stories of teens who had played the blue whale challenge game were doing rounds on our news sites. People continue being conned online.
So, as a parent, guardian or elder sibling, what should you do to make sure that kids under your protection are safe online?
#1. Talk to them about the online dangers
The best way to keep kids safe online is through a talk on the dangers that they will find online. When allowing your kid to visit sites, it is like allowing a rookie driver into a highway. The need to be aware of the dangers so that they are ready to face them.
#2. Tell them to use the home internet in an open place in the house
If the kid is using internet on a desktop or laptop at home, ask them to kindly use it from an open place such as the living room so that you can always check what they are doing by a mere peek at their computer screens.
#3. Install internet security antiviruses
Some antiviruses such as Kaspersky have a parental control feature where you are able to block certain sites from your kid's computer. So all you need to do is buy the software and configure it so that it blocks any suspicious sites from being viewable.
#4. Install kid-safe internet browsers
Rather than use the normal browsers such as chrome, Mozilla firefox and internet explorer, you can install kids safe internet browsers on their gadgets. These include: Kiddle, Kidrex, Kidsplorer, maxthon, kidzsearch among others. These browsers only allow safe search so that the child will not be able to explore pornographic sites, betting sites or those that promote violence.
#5. Block sites from the router
You can also block websites that you deem to promote profanity, violence, betting and pornography from the main router supplying internet to your home. This, of course, calls for you to be good at networking.