Internet Safety for Kids: Essential Gift Tips for Parents

Internet Safety for Kids: Essential Gift Tips for Parents

Author: Jeff Weeks, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer

The holiday season is an exciting time of year, especially for children who receive new tech gifts like smartphones, computers, or gaming consoles. However, these presents can introduce children to online threats for the first time. As a parent or guardian, teaching responsible device use and internet safety for kids is crucial.

APPRECIATE THE RISKS

Understanding the hazards of using the internet will help you to teach your child about online safety. Key subjects to cover include cyberbullying, inappropriate content, online predators, and phishing.

PROTECT AGAINST THE RISKS

No matter our good intentions, we can’t monitor our children 24 hours a day. Make use of the parental control tools included on most devices and systems to limit what sites your child can reach and restrict the time your child can access the internet to help reduce risk. You can also use tools to track the websites your child visits and monitor their online behavior. This will enable you to identify issues more rapidly.

USEFUL SAFETY MEASURES

Teaching your child proper cyber hygiene is critical. This includes crafting strong, distinct account passwords. It is also important to show your child how to install antivirus software, update software and applications, and change social media and gaming platform privacy settings to protect their personal data.

RESOURCES

These age-appropriate internet safety tools can assist you in guiding your children as they navigate the internet:

Internet Matters provides advice on selecting safe, entertaining, and educational websites and apps for children. In addition, the site provides a step-by-step guide to setting up parental controls and provides tools and advice about critical thinking and internet safety for kids.

Common Sense Media offers ratings and guidance on age-appropriate applications, games, and websites, and helps parents decide how much their child should consume digitally.

Focusing on privacy, mental health, and lowering of exposure to negative information, the Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force offers best practices for safe online use.

NetSmartz is an educational initiative of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children offering age-appropriate tools to assist in teaching internet safety for kids.

Google's interactive program, Be Internet Awesome is designed to teach children the foundations of digital citizenship and safety.

These are just a few online sources about providing a safe and secure online experience for your child. Following these guidelines will help your child to appropriately and securely enjoy their new devices.

Happy holidays!

About the Author

Jeff has been with First National Bank of Omaha for more than 25 years and is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer. The executive leadership and oversight provided by Jeff in the development, management, and execution of information security for FNBO enables the company’s ability to posture and protect private, personal information, and assets of the company’s clients, employees, and business partners.