Social networking sites are great places to explore and share new ideas, sharpen creativity and make new connections. These sites are also perfect places to play out fantasies (such as pretending you are 16 when you are only 13) or connect with someone that pretends to understand all the things it seems your parents don’t.
Help keep your kids stay safe when they use MySpace or other social networking sites by:
- Limiting their Internet access. Set rules for how long and often they can go online.
- Supporting your children to develop and maintain personal connections with family and (in-person) friends and real-life social activities or organizations.
- Forbidding your child from posting ANY personal information (such as address, school name, and telephone numbers) that can be misused by viewers. Remind them that once it goes online, you can’t take back off – that information will live forever in cyberspace.
- Having the courage to make and standby what most certainly will be unpopular decisions (Remember that saying “No” may disappoint your child, but you are the boss and kids actually want limits – even if they say they don’t.)
- Providing a third party perspective by helping your child understand how easy it is for anyone – including dangerous people to pretend that they are someone they aren’t.
- Understanding what motivates your child to participate on social networking sites, and offering guidance, direction, alternatives from a place they can understand and respect.
- Reminding your child that everyone (including unintended and unsafe eyes) will have access to whatever information they post – see point #3.
- Encouraging your child to limit online contacts to a safe, buddy list.
No one said it will be easy but it is something that as a parent, you must do. And here’s where parental monitoring or internet monitoring comes in.
Software titles like PC Tattletale and other parental controls can make it much easier for parents to see what’s going on when they aren’t around to actively monitor what their children are doing online.
Also, for additional tips on MySpace safety, parents can download a free report on how they can help keep their children safe when they use social networking sites like MySpace at: http://www.myspacemonitor.com
