Digital is the future. Digital technologies are continuously evolving and rapidly changing. However, long hours of screen time may cut down the physical activities of kids which may have a lot of harmful impacts both on the physical and psychological health of your kids. As parents, it is quite natural to think about child’s safety. Inappropriate digital content and predators on a digital platform may be a threat to your kid which calls for protection. With some simple steps, you can ensure internet safety for kids.
Parental Control Tips for Kid’s Online Behaviour
The following are some of the important parental control online safety tips for kids
1. Make use of parental controls:
Using search restrictions or parental control measures is one of the ways to ensure internet safety for kids. The curiosity of your kid can sometimes land them on non-decent sites on the internet. Hence, you need to block inappropriate content to prevent this.
Using parental control tools ensures your kids can only access content suitable for their age on the web. The search gets restricted to age-appropriated contents. You can not only limit their access to the internet but also can track the information accessed by them. There are many parental control tools available that help you ensure additional protection.
2. Keep an eye on your kid’s online activity:
It is important to keep an eye on your kid’s online activity when they are online using the computer or smartphone at home. However, this could get challenging as your child grows older. They might not access the device just in front of you or may learn to clear the browsing history.
Hence, it is good to have an agreement with your kid about using digital devices cautiously in your presence. It is appropriate to make them understand the negative impact it may have on them.
3. Talk and discuss your kid’s online activity:
Consider Discussing with your kids about their online activity such as asking them what are they reading online, who are their online friends, what are the topics for which they use digital platforms etc. Talk about the apps and websites which they use or visit.
Sometimes, you can go through those sites or apps together with them. It is important to teach them about healthy behaviour on the public forum and how to be cautious about their online reputation as it ensures internet safety for kids even when they access the internet outside of the home.
4. Know about your kid’s online friends:
If your kid is not taught to be cyber-wise, coming in contact with the wrong people or fraudsters can put them in danger.
Hence, it is important for you to know about the online friends, to whom they are talking in order to ensure cyber safety for kids. Teach them about cyber privacy and safety.
5. Keep a check on online time:
It is important to set rules on internet usage and the time limit for the same to ensure healthy practices at home for kids. They should know their boundaries while using the internet so that they use it within the limits such as age-appropriate and child-friendly content only. It is also important to restrict them with time limits so that their internet usage does not negatively impact their social quotient.
6. Teach your children healthy online practices:
It is crucial to teach your kids healthy online practices by telling them about the risk of personal information shared online, photos that are made public on social media platforms, etc. Though it is not their age to maturely think about the consequences, parents may teach them to protect their privacy online to ensure internet safety for kids.
7. Be digital and social network savvy:
One of the online safety tips for kids is being digital savvy. If you are on a social network and you are a tech-savvy person, it becomes easier for you to teach your kid healthy online practices and monitor their digital footprints in order to ensure internet safety for kids.
8. Lead by example:
Before you preach to your kid, ensure you practice the same. Children are likely to follow in your footsteps, hence ensure to have positive and healthy behaviour on social media or while using the digital platform. Ensure to follow the rules set by you such as limiting your own screen time.
To sum up, it is important to ensure healthy digital platform usage and ensure internet safety for kids without instilling any fear in them about the digital world. Let them get all the amazing benefits offered by the digital platform in terms of education, learning, entertainment, etc. without falling prey to inappropriate content online.
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