With all the stories filling the evening news about internet safety, cyberbullying, and sexting, parents are understandably worried about what their own children are doing on the internet and how they can keep them safe.  In fact, the recent news stories on cyberbullying and teens using cellphones to send sexual images of themselves are great ways to get the conversation started with your teens.  Talking to your teens about internet use and safety are keys to helping your child make the right decisions when it comes to their own internet use.  Open communication leads to successful teen parenting, and dealing with internet safety is no exception.

So, how can you help your teens make the right decisions about their internet use to help ensure their safety?  Here are a few quick tips:

• Keep the computer in an open area where you can walk by at any time.  Instead of having the computer in your child’s bedroom consider setting up a family office in an open area of your home, or share your own office with your teen.
• Set limits on how often your teen can use the computer.  Exceptions may need to be made if your child has a large school project they are working on, of course you’ll need to talk about this before hand.
• Talk to your child openly about email use and social networking sites.  Set a rule that you can look at your child’s email or social networking site page at anytime.  Don’t sneak in to do ask them to pull it up in front of you and look at it together.
• If you notice your child has done a good job of setting up a website or a social networking site page tell them.  It is just as important to tell our children when they are doing something right as it is to tell them when they have done something wrong.
• Set up the proper firewall and virus protections, spam blockers and pop-up blockers.  This will help the whole family, especially if your teen is downloading videos or music from online sources.
• Talk to your teen about what types of sites it is appropriate for them to be using and set guidelines on what sites are completely off limits.
• Talk to your teen about what type of information it is OK and not OK to share online.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate.

You can’t keep your teen off the internet and you can’t be there to monitor their every move.  By talking with your teen open and honestly about their internet use you can give your teen the tools he or she needs to make the right decision about their internet use.

Do you have teens?  What sort of restrictions and guidelines have you set up regarding internet use?  What have you found works best with your teen?

Here is an excellent site for more information on teens and internet safety.

• WiredSafety