Keep computers in a central place. It makes it easier for you to keep an eye on your children’s activities.
Teach Internet Safety. It's impossible to monitor all online activity, all the time. As kids get older, they need to know how to use the Internet safely and responsibly when they're on their own.
Use sharing controls. Using sharing controls is particularly important when you or your kids share personal information, like names, addresses, or phone numbers, on public sites. In addition to teaching your kids how to use these controls, teach them to respect the privacy of friends and family by not identifying people by name in public profiles and pictures.
Protect passwords. It sounds obvious, but remind your kids not to give out their online passwords and not to click on "remember me" settings on public computers, like at school or at the library.
Beware of stranger danger. Teach kids to avoid in-person meetings with people they "meet" online, and not to share personal information with online strangers because people may not be who they claim to be.
Teach kids to communicate responsibly. A good rule of thumb is: if you wouldn't say it to someone's face, don't text it, email it, instant message it, or post it as a comment on someone's page. .
View all content critically. Just because you see it online, doesn't mean it's true. Teach kids how to reliable sources from unreliable ones and how to verify information they find online. And make sure kids understand that cutting and pasting content right from a website may be plagiarism, and plagiarism is cheating.
