A Safety Guide
Protecting Your Children Online and Off

Hi all,

Some of you have written and asked why there wasn't a new article. Well, he answer is simple and it is painful. I work with a group called forthekids. The purpose is to help return children to their homes. Unfortunately, one of the children that were missing was found dead. And while I had never met her, the death of any child hurts. I really didn't feel like writing at all. But I do now. Today I am going to provide some simple tips to keeping your children safe. I will be giving some tips not just for your home life, but online as well.

ONLINE:

1. There are plenty of software packages that can track what your children say online, such as cyberpatrol and netnanny. The drawback is that there are ways around them. The best security to safeguard your children online is a simple and free one: SUPERVISE THEM. I work at an isp as a supervisor and when our members ask which program I use, I tell them the one I was born with, ME! If my daughters are online, I am here. They don't know the passwords to even start my computer.

2. Something you need to let your children know when in a chat room is that some of the people in there are LIARS. There will always be people in chatrooms who are saying they are children when they aren't. There have been children abducted when they thought they were talking to another teen and decide to meet. Turns out the other "teen" was a pedophile. Some will say that telling your children that there are liars in the chatroom is giving them the wrong impression of people, but it is a fact. The internet can be a wonderful place. You can learn about just about any subject and communicate with people from other countries that you would never talk to otherwise. But it is also a dangerous place. Predators have learned that innocence can be exploited using it.

3. A good way to know when your children are online is to set what is called a bios password. What that it is, is a password box pops up before windows even starts to load. If you don't know the password, windows will not start, which means no internet. If you don't know how to set a bios password, ask someone local to you who does.

4. Another good option is to not save the password for your internet connection. That way, it will have to be entered everytime allowing you to know when the internet.

Does it sound like I am paranoid? In some ways yes! I have made the "internet" my job. I have been doing tech support for awhile and have heard more horror stories than I care to admit.

Real life:

1. Have your children fingerprinted. That almost any police station will do if you request it.

2. Take photos of your children every month. That way you will have current pictures if they are needed.

3. Teach your children a password that will let them know that someone is safe.

4. Ask the local police station if there are any safety courses that your children can go thru. It is never to early to teach your children safety.

5. Tell your children that if someone does try to grab them, YELL!! Yell and scream and kick. Teach them that if a stranger tries to grab them to make a scene.

6. Go to their school, talk to the teachers and principal. Ask what security measures they have. Do they make sure the children get on the bus? Do they require proof before your children will be released to someone else?

These may sound like simple ideas, but we don't do it. We say, oh that type of thing will never happen here. Well, guess what, it can happen anywhere. It can happen in the smallest town or the biggest city. It is OUR job to keep our children safe. Contact your senators and congressmen, ask them to pass laws that protect our children, not only around your town, but online as well. Tell them you want tougher laws that protect our children before they are victims. Tell them you want laws that protect the victims and not the criminals. Am I wound up right now? YES!!! Nothing will ever change unless WE make it.

I am gonna end this now, but I want to leave you with this website http://members.tripod.com/Forthekids/index.html Please pass it on to everyone you know. We can all help. The final thought is as always. Remember to let your children know that you love them. If you have any disagreements with this article, send me your feedback at wrhawk65@ctel.net

Love your children and teach them right.

Goodbye for now

Brian

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