Best Practices

Talk with your children about their online activities and the risks and ethical responsibilities of surfing the Web. Tell them you have a responsibility to monitor their Internet use and that you will.

Keep the computer in a common room in your home and set time limits for its use.

Make sure your child knows never to divulge personal information as they surf the Internet.

Set rules as to what sites your children are allowed to visit and which ones they are not.

Tell your children to let you know immediately if a stranger tries to make contact with them on the Web.

Install an operating system that makes you the administrator of the family computer, enabling you to control Web browser settings, content that can be viewed online, and software that can be installed. Consider installing third-party filtering software.

Insist your children give you their e-mail and chat room passwords. Prohibit them from having multiple e-mail accounts.

Make sure your children know what online activities are against the law. Illegal activities include making threats against someone else online, hacking, downloading pirated software, creating bootlegged software, sharing music files online and (for children under 18) making purchases over the Internet.

Go online with your kids and find out who they send Instant Messages to and/or chat with. Do not allow your children to send Instant Messages during homework-related computer time.

Regularly scan the files on your family computer to see what kind of material your children have downloaded and whether it was obtained legally.