As families and schools across the world are "logging on," parents and educators face the issue of protecting children from adult material on the Internet. Pornography, hate literature, bomb formulas, online gambling, and adult chat rooms are just some of the websites with easy access. Since recent studies suggest that children using the Internet learn at accelerated rates, the question is not how to keep kids offline but rather how to let kids use online technology safely. Online safety basics combined with filtering software can take some of the bumps out of the information superhighway and make the Internet a fun and interesting learning experience.

Guidelines for Parents

• Talk with Your Teens About What They Can and Cannot Do Online
• Be reasonable and set reasonable expectations. Try to understand their needs, interests, and curiosity. Remember what it was like when you were their age.

• Be Open with Your Teens and Encourage Them to Come to You if They Encounter a Problem Online
• If they tell you about someone or something they encountered, your first response should not be to blame them or take away their Internet privileges. Work with them to help them avoid problems in the future, and remember; how you respond will determine whether they confide in you the next time they encounter a problem and how they learn to deal with problems on their own.
• Learn Everything You Can About the Internet
• Check the screen periodically. Let your children know that you are interested in what they are learning online.
• If your children are more familiar with the Internet than you are, let them teach you about it.
• Talk to your children about correspondence with strangers and how they should handle unfamiliar email. Children should know never to give out their real name, address or telephone number, or agree to meet with someone in person.
• Ask your teen to show you what's cool. Have them show you great places for teens and fill you in on areas that you might benefit from as well. Make "surfing the net" a family experience. Use it to plan a vacation, pick out a movie, or check out other family activities. This may be one area where you get to be the student and your kid gets to be the teacher.
• Check Out Blocking, Filtering, and Ratings
• As you may know, there are now services that rate web sites for content as well as filtering programs and browsers that empower parents to block the types of sites they consider to be inappropriate. These programs work in different ways. Some block sites known to contain objectionable material. Some prevent users from entering certain types of information such as their name and address. Other programs keep your kids away from chat rooms or restrict their ability to send or read E-mail. Generally these programs can be configured by the parent to block only the types of sites that the parent considers to be objectionable.
• Whether or not it is appropriate to use one of these programs is a personal decision. If you do use such a program, you'll probably need to explain to your teen why you feel it is necessary. You should also be careful to choose a program whose criteria reflects your family's values.
• Be sure to configure it so that it doesn't block sites that you want your teen to be able to visit.
• It is important to realize that filtering programs cannot protect your child from all dangers in cyberspace. To begin with, no program can possibly block out every inappropriate site. What's more, it's possible, in some cases, for the programs to block sites that are appropriate. If you use a filtering program, you should re-evaluate it periodically to make sure it's working for your family.
Regardless of whether you use a filtering program, you should still be sure that your teen follows all of the basic rules listed in this brochure.
• Filtering programs are not a substitute for good judgment or critical thinking. With or without filters, kids and their parents need to be "net savvy."

Don’t be put off

Okay, so there are dangers on the internet. You can find false information, and people aren't always who they say they are. But don't let this put you or your teens off !!

The web can also be a really valuable resource for sexual health information. Almost anything you could possibly need to know is out there somewhere, all the things you wanted to ask but couldn't go to your teachers or parents about. It's completely safe, as long as you remember the basic tips about internet safety for teens that you've read on this page.

As well as sexual health information, the web can put you in touch with other people – if you're going through a difficult time, you can find other people who've had the same experiences and can help. Or maybe you've been through a difficult experience and want to use that to help other people. That's fine, as long as you remember the divide between the web and real life. If you go to anything in real life that you found about from the web, you have to be really careful that it's safe – even something like counseling sessions. As long as you're careful, and as long as you stick to safe and reputable sites, the net can be great. You're never alone if you're online.