Playing catch-up: online safety

All of my kids are eight and under, so if you had asked me a week ago, I would have said I didn't need to worry too much about online safety. Our kids have their own user account. Their internet browser is loaded with bookmarks for sites that are safe and appropriate for them. Most of all, they have very little computer time, and the little time they do have is fairly closely monitored. No problem, right?

Well, it seemed like no problem until my eight-year-old came home from school with a project in progress that she wanted to finish. She assured me that she could just "Google" her topic so she didn't need any help from me. Right away alarm bells sounded in my head. She needed to know that unless she was on previously approved websites, she needed to have an adult sitting with her when she was on the internet.

I recognize that we are going to have more and more instances where my daughter will need the computer. We need better safety measures in place than just having an adult always by her side. I admit that I was at a complete loss for what to do about this until I spent some time on Yahoo! safely.

Yahoo! safely has pointers and tips for kids and adults alike on how to make using the internet a safe and beneficial experience. With the help of this site, I have learned how to set up safe search parameters for my children's account. We are also looking into downloading software that will let us monitor their internet use as well as keep them safe.

The next time my daughter wants to spend time on the internet for a school project, I will not feel such a sense of panic. I want us all to be cautiously aware of both the benefits and the dangers that the internet has for our family. I am very thankful to Yahoo! for helping our family out with this.

Even though I blog for Yahoo! with the Yahoo! Motherboard and as a Shine Parenting Guru, the thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are purely my own. You can read more of my parental pondering here and here.