Should My Child Go Online Unsupervised?

Would you let you child wander the streets of Chicago or New York alone? Of course not!

But many parents permit their children to use the internet without parental controls, child-safe filters, basic internet safety guidelines, or even ground rules of acceptable online activity. Allowing kids to go online without these things is like allowing them to explore a major city by themselves. The Internet, like a city, offers an enormous array of entertainment and educational resources but also presents some very real potential dangers. Kids need your help navigating this world safely.

You can't watch your kids every minute, but you do need to use strategies to help them benefit from the Internet while avoiding its potential risks. By exploring the Internet with your kids, you greatly expand its capacity as an educational tool. By providing guidance and discussion along the way, you increase kids, online skills and confidence along with their ability to avoid potential hazards -- and you might be surprised by what your kids can teach you at the same time.

Educate your children about how to stay safe online. There are many sites which teach about internet safety, but sometimes that information can be almost as disturbing as the inappropriate content you're trying to avoid, particularly for younger children. Some other sites are geared for very young children and leave tweens and teens rolling their eyes. GamesAtGrandmas.com was developed to instruct parents and provide a safe environment where kids of all ages can play games that also teach internet safety tips in a fun and non-threatening way.

Because the safety tips are presented in an upbeat and empowering manner while kids are engaged in enjoyable learning activities, they pick up the internet safety lessons naturally. These games and lessons provide you and your children with great topics and opportunities to discuss the dangers online and the precautions they should take. Just as older generations grew up being cautious of strangers, and the current generation of parents were taught "stranger danger," today's children need to be educated in how to stay safe both off and online.

Visit GamesAtGrandmas.com for more great tips and fun, educational games about internet safety. While you're there, sign up for the free series of internet safety videos -- they make starting those conversations about what to do and NOT to do online a lot easier.

My name is Lorna, and as a grandmother I am concerned about keeping my grandchildren - and all children - safe on the internet. There are countless wonderful educational and entertaining sites online, but there are also many, many dangerous predators and cyber bullies looking for children to victimize. By teaching internet safety tips to children and their parents, I hope to help prevent children from becoming victims of internet predators. Along the way, they will also learn what to do to stop cyberbullying and how to protect their privacy online. http://GamesAtGrandmas.com.

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