Kids & Internet Safety {$50 Giveaway!}

June is internet safety month. Did you know that? In this day and age, it’s incredibly important to to be a proactive parent to help keep your kids safe on the internet. I’ve partnered with Lifetime Moms and Cox Take Charge to bring you this helpful, informative post.

HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN COEXIST WITH KIDS IN A HEALTHY WAY

When parents come to me with questions about how to monitor their kid’s technology, it’s almost always after they’ve discovered something – a questionable photo on Instagram, a conversation with a stranger, usage when they should have been doing their homework. No matter how conscious and proactive parents are about setting limits in other areas, often they don’t create boundaries around technology until a boundary has already been crossed. And no wonder: Many say they simply don’t know where to begin. If they ban chatting on one device, they think, their kids will find a way to do it on another. Others parents say they didn’t realize how much time their kids actually spent staring at screens.

Believe it or not, according to recent studies, kids ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day on various devices, often while multitasking. But while too much technology use is associated with lower grades and shortened attention spans, it also creates wonderful opportunities for parents and kids alike that none of us would want to give up. So here are a few ways to start thinking about how technology can coexist with kids in a healthy way.

Click to read the rest of this post at Lifetime Moms.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Congrats to Ashley from Wishes & Dishes!

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Enter to win a $50 Gift Card by leaving a comment on this post {NOT on Facebook or via email} with one way you handle internet safety at your house!  🙂

Have a happy day!

xoxo

Myra

*This is a compensated post from A&E Television Networks, LLC (“AETN”) and/or AETN’s third-party advertisers.

38 Comments

  1. I have a filter on my laptop. I work at a school and I am always surprised by the number of homes that do not use filters on computers! Thanks for the post–definitely timely!

  2. I have a 14 year old son. I think keeping communication open is the key. I constantly ask him what he is searching and in turn he will often talk about what he reading. I do often go on his laptop to check his facebook page, emails, etc. and do not feel I am snooping but rather parenting. It’s a different world now and we have to adapt to different ways of parenting.

  3. My kids are young right now but my older son (age 10) has expressed an interest in having his own email account. When he starts to email, we will make sure to monitor his usage.

  4. I have set up a couple virus protection programs, second I don’t open unsolicited email. Third, if I do get email from someone that I know and they have a click on address I never click on it but I go directly to their website and log in, Fourth when I quit using my computer I turn the unit completely off.

  5. We have software on our computer that has allowed us to set parental guidelines that filter and restrict access. We use the similar parental guidelines for TV that COX provides.

  6. I have a filter but it does not seem to be a very good one. I would like to know more about what to look for in how to block things that are “hidden dangers”.

  7. From the moment our girls (now ages 16 and 18) began using the internet with email, facebook and now blogging they have done so with the knowledge that there is nothing done in secret. They are fully aware that we will randomly check their accounts…and they are welcome to look at our email and facebook accounts if they choose as well. We have a great relationship with our daughters and communicate about everything in a very honest (age appropriate) manner. There are a number of great tools to help with internet safety, but I believe communication and relationship building have been the key to our personal success in protecting our girls. =)

  8. Hello! I’m single right now and I make sure that I only go to sites that I trust and that are verified. So many people just click on unsafe sites and open unsafe emails that can swipe their information in seconds. It’s so important to be aware of what you are doing and what site you are on – we tend to trust sites/people so easily that we can be doing something that could be harmful to us if we aren’t careful. Thanks!

  9. Loved the contract idea in the article and I will be using it. At the moment I am using communication and proximity to help my 8 year old understand that we have to have boundaries to keep us safe.

  10. I keep my daughter safe by using the site Zoodles to keep her only in those games that they’ve approved for her age group. I’m a user of their free service, which provides weekly reports indicating what types of learning games she played throughout the week, but paid users are able to customize what areas of learning they would prefer to have shown on the home screen the kids use. All games are awesome – I’ve never had a complaint about this program in all the years I’ve used it.

  11. We have parental controls set pretty high-there are specific hours his computer will allow him to log on. There is no computer use in bedrooms-only at the dining room table. Also I have all the passwords for his accounts and I routinely monitor the history on his computer.

  12. Our computers are out in the open and we have parental restrictions set on everything that we can. We also keep this an open discussion and they know not to click on anything.

  13. Our rule from the day we got our first computer has been that internet access is only for common areas of our home. The computer has always been in the kitchen, and no one got their own laptop until they went to college. Kids are less likely to click on questionable links or content when Mom can see the screen.

  14. We use parental control in home desktop PC and make sure either hubby or me must accompany kids while they are using the Internet.

  15. Well my daughter uses the computer either in the living room where we can see what she is doing or on my desktop, either way I can view the history but I have also talked to my kids about inappropriate websites

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

  16. We use a filter to limit what is accessible and what is “accidently” seen on our computers. Our children are still very young, but we are trying to protect them from the garbage that is out there!

  17. We are in the same room with our children when they are on the Internet. They always ask permission

  18. i look through their history and monitor their social sites and emails. still get scared though its not enough though.

  19. I don’t have the internet…or children for that matter. A bit drastic, I suppose, but it’s not in the budget and it hasn’t been necessary.

  20. We are just getting into this area with our 7 year old. I appreciate this article to help me to keep her safe from the start.

  21. We keep it simple around our house – only 1 computer and it’s a desktop right in the kitchen/living area where it is wide out in the open. 😀 Also, we monitor what goes on, what’s allowed, only so much time per week, etc. Like I said, simple and straightforward and easy to handle. 🙂

  22. We have filtering on our computers, check the history, and require computers to be out in the open where others can see.

  23. my kids are little so we haven’t figured this out yet. thanks for the information!

  24. i had to have to a talk with my stepdaughter a couple years back and and do some controls on computer because she would type in something kid related for a game website and there goes pop ups for porn

  25. we handle internet safety w/ up to day virus scanners and protectors, and we have a different password for every account

  26. Greetings! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form?
    I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having
    problems finding one? Thanks a lot!
    psn Card´s last blog post ..psn Card

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