Top 5 cyber parenting tips to help facilitate online safety

MUMBAI, INDIA: As mentioned yesterday, children are exposing much more than their first names to strangers online.

Addicted to the social media, the kids have no qualms physically meeting strangers who are their online pals. While recently surveys point toward increased incidents of cyber bulling, and cyber-crimes specially targeted at children, here are 5 cyber parenting tips to that help us facilitate online safety of our not so tiny, tots.

Connect with your children: Talk casually and frequently with them about the online risks, and make sure the communication lines are open. Foster discussions around relevant news stories or cases at schools.

Set password rules: To show camaraderie and trust, teens may share their social media passwords with friends or acquaintances. Friend or not, this is a dangerous practice. Put a consequence in place for breaking this critical password rule.

Read app reviews: By reading app flags, age restrictions (ranks include: everyone, low maturity, medium maturity, or high maturity) and customer reviews on an app, you will be able to discern if an app is going to be suitable for your child.

Gain access: Parents should have passwords for their children’s social media accounts and passcodes to their children’s devices to have full access.

Up your tech knowledge: Stay one step ahead and take the time to research the various devices your children use. Stay knowledgeable about the newest and latest social networks. While you don’t have to create an account, it is important to understand how they work and if your children are on them.