Table of Contents: Online Safety Advice Before Your Child Goes Online When Your Child is Online Evaluating Web Content Online Safety Advice Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions about your family's Web use. As a parent, only you can judge what constitutes a positive and educational online experience for your children. We're trying to provide the material for you to make educated decisions for your child, but remember--not making a decision is a decision. Parenting for the virtual world is very similar to parenting in the real world. You don't let your kids go anywhere unsupervised before you're sure they know the rules and how to handle themselves. You don't encourage your kids to talk to strangers, especially if you're not around. And you try to keep an eye on what your kids are doing, what they're interested in, how they're spending their time, and with whom they're spending their time. Back to Top Before Your Child Goes Online: Teach yourself about the Web. Yahoo! has a handy introductory tutorial called Yahoo! How-To. If your kids are more familiar with the Web than you are (which is quite possible), doing a little legwork ahead of time will pay off when it's time to talk to them about online safety. Place your family computer in the most public area of your home - the living room, kitchen, or wherever it's easiest for you to monitor their computer use and activities. Before you go online, determine where the computer will be located and make any necessary preparations (additional phone line or jack, computer desk, etc. - that little bit of extra money will be well spent!). Familiarise yourself with parental control software, and check out the control features of your online service or ISP. Some programs allow you to filter specific sites, a group of sites that the software deems inappropriate, or sites with inappropriate keywords in them. However, nothing is foolproof; new sites are created all the time that may not be caught by the programs. Having a filter program is not a substitute for supervising your child's online activities. Many families find that adding blocking and filtering programs to their regular supervision gives them additional peace of mind. Get to know the communication tools that your child may use. Besides surfing the Web, a good deal of a child's time online may be spent communicating and interacting with others. With the establishment of family guidelines, your child can have a safe and fun time participating in this new Internet community. Learn about some of the communication tools we provide on Yahoo!. Create a "Family Pledge for Online Safety" that clearly states what your children are and are not allowed to do online. Involve your children in the creation of the pledge, both as an opportunity for you to talk about the issues that will arise, and as a way to get their input and interest in the subjects. We're more likely to follow rules of our own making than those imposed upon us. Back to Top When Your Child is Online As we mentioned, locating the computer in a public place is very important. In addition to letting you keep an eye on where your child is going on the Web, it makes it much easier for you to be a part of your child's online life. It's not a matter of not trusting your child to do the right thing; it's merely a matter of supervision and information. You probably wouldn't feel comfortable dropping your children off at the playground without keeping an eye on them, right? The same principles hold here. Surf with your child--it can offer you a window into their interests, concerns, and ways of thinking. Enjoy this opportunity to have some fun together, while explaining to them what is and isn't appropriate for them to do, and why. This is a time of sharing, not of enforcement or patrolling; make it a fun and productive way to spend time with your child. Back to Top Evaluating Web Content When evaluating web sites, look for sites that meet "The Four A's" of good sites for kids: Accessible, Accurate, Appropriate, and Appealing. Accessible refers to how easy it is to access and navigate the site. Do you receive lots of error messages when you try to access it? Does it take ten minutes to download? Do the links to other areas of the site work? Even if a site has great material, it won't do you any good if you can't reach it. Accurate means just that: how accurate is the information on the site? Sometimes it's easy to tell, but if it's an unfamiliar subject, you need to use other methods to determine the accuracy. One good indication is checking the author of the site. Most sites have an "about the author" section, so you can check if it's someone who looks like they have a lot of background in the subject. The Appropriateness of the site is partially dependent on your child. Obviously, some sites aren't designed for any children and the material on them is blatantly inappropriate. Other sites might cover an appropriate subject area, but are written at a level, which is too advanced or too simple for your child. You and your kid are the best ones to tell whether a site is at the right level. Appealing refers to how enjoyable a site is to use. Are the colors and graphics fun, or do they just make the site hard to read? Is the navigation of the site clear enough, so that you know how to get the information you want? If the process of getting the information is a struggle, the web site is much less useful. Back to Top