Getting Back To School Tips for Online Kids

It’s always exciting and nerve-wracking to get your kids ready for the new school year. You might be putting off the shopping for school supplies or new clothes, or have nearly completed your preparations. Either way, there is one key area that you can get ready now that you may have completely overlooked: your child’s computer and internet set-up. Taking the time now, in the waning days of summer, to talk to your children and review the technology they use will provide them with a fast on-ramp to success in the school year.

Milestones and risks

Kindergarten and first grade: Children who are entering into their first structured educational environment may be offered computer time in the classroom or in a special computer lab. Here they may use learning software under the supervision of an instructor or there may be “free time” where children can play on approved websites.

• Risks: Password theft is rampant among even the youngest children who tend to trust their friends and relatives. This can result in stolen accounts, lost points or damaged reputations due to abuse of the account.
• Tips: Talk to your children about protecting all their information when online, even passwords and even with the youngest school children.

Middle school: Children are signing up for their own email accounts, separate from the family email account and/or getting cell phones of their own. By ages 12 and 13, many are creating social network pages. The use of and interest in communications with their peers is growing rapidly.

• Risks: 90% of the world’s email is spam and some of it is highly inappropriate for young children. Children may begin communicating with people they don’t know in the real world. Online communications can be anonymous and hurtful, leading to cyberbullying.
• Tips: Maintain access to your children’s accounts as a stipulation for getting your permission to sign up for email, Instant Messaging or cell phones. Monitor who your children communicate with and be prepared to ask who everyone is. Discuss appropriate online behavior and the permanence of digital communications.

Teen years and beyond: Although by ages 12 and up, most children now realize that the online world is risky and have learned navigational skills, they may not recognize the damage their own behavior can cause. They are creating online content, posting videos and photos and joining online causes and groups.

• Risks: Much of the most popular online activities for these teens can impact their online or “digital” reputation. Now that employers and universities regularly scan social networks for information on their candidates, each child must use website’s own privacy settings and their own sensibilities to limit or remove any controversial or inappropriate material that could damage their future.
• Tips: Use a search engine (like “Google” or “Bing”) to show what is available online about you and your child. Set the example to review the material critically, as if you were a prospective employer or college admissions office. What does this say about me? Could someone be offended or upset by this information? Remove or edit what you can and establish agreement about what will be posted in the future.

Have the Talk

The best technical discussion with your children requires no technology at all. You can have “The Talk” with your children anywhere, even sitting on the beach. The objective is to demonstrate your interest in their use of technology and the Internet and then establish a dialog where they know they can trust you to understand and assist them with any online difficulties they may encounter. You can learn more about “the Talk”, today’s discussion of the bits and the bytes here.

Online Family Safety Starts with You

Staying in touch with your child’s online lives has never been easier than it is today. Using Norton Online Family helps you check in with your children’s online activities from any online computer in the world. I’ve really found the ability to review my children’s search terms to be a help in understanding their interests. I could track how excited my children were about seeing the new Harry Potter film and when I agreed to stand in line for the midnight show with my teenager, she was thrilled. Norton Online Family helped me realize how engaged she was in the franchise from seeing how many times she was watching the trailer online.

As you get into the Back to School frenzy, you can use Norton Online Family to reset the school year rules about Internet time limits. Begin easing your child into a good routine now, by using the Time limits for weekday versus weekend time. Explain when you will further restrict her time online by website or by hours per day and allow some room for discussion and negotiation. Rules you created together are much easier for everyone to agree on.