Monitoring Your Child's Internet Use

The European Union sponsored a contest to determine the safest internet browsing software for children. The winner of the contest was Magic Desktop (they also won last year). However, Magic Desktop was only the clear winner for under tens. There was no clear winner for adolescents. Deloitte ran the test. The results can be seen here.

It is important to know not only the sites where your children is surfing, but also who your children are interacting with while online. Many parents are familiar with the possibility of arriving at web content which is inappropriate for a child. However, parents are not as familiar with how to monitor the interactions of children over the internet. Children today are very computer savvy. They have grown up online. They seek relationships online and want to interact. It is important to educate your child in this regard.

Talk to your children about the web sites they frequent. You should visit these sites and be familiar with them. Is it possible to interact with others? Children should be advised against revealing personal information on the internet. However, limited interactions may be appropriate. Monitoring and supervision is extremely important in this context.

We will deal with adolescents and the web another day....