I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
As a mother of two children, their safety is always on my mind and my #1 priority always. This includes Internet Safety. With so many websites so easily to access, it is really scary thinking about some of the risks our children can face on a daily basis. I am a child of the 80’s, so the only social media I grew up with was riding bikes with my friends and always playing outside. I never had a cell phone and never had access to a computer at a young age, except the ones in my school. I loved to play outside and would stay outside for hours. Raising children now is completely different. My children do not want to spend a lot of time outside like I used to. Just getting my kids to let go of the iPad or to stop playing the computer is a chore somedays, even with limiting them to how much time they can access technology. As my children are getting older they are getting more curious about sites that I use on a daily basis, such as Facebook and Instagram. My children who are 6.5 & 3.5 do not have an account online with any social networking sites, but I feel they will be wanting to explore these sites soon, especially my oldest. She sees me on Facebook chatting with my friends and is starting to ask questions about my social networking sites.
This got me thinking about what I can do to keep my children safe on the Internet.
How can I know they will be safe accessing so many social media websites?
What can I do to protect them?
So many questions in my head and I finally found a website to put answer all of my questions. I hope the below information can help you as well!
Every day new social platforms emerge and no sooner do we hear about it, our kids already have multiple followers! But as they zip from website to website often we worry for their safety with the actions and information they are providing. How do you help your child to be Cyber Safe and how can you use the resources that the Boys & Girls Clubs of America have provided? If you have never checked out BGCA’s site I strongly urge you to do so! So many great resources for Internet safety. They offer quizzes to take about Cyber safety, a question & answer section, cyber safety stats, and more! It is also BGCA’s third annual Cyber Safe Futures Campaign!
Here is the link to access BGCA website: http://www.bgca.org/cybersafe/pages/ default.aspx.
If you submit questions to the BGCA Cyber Ambassadors through the website regarding cyber bullying, social networking, online privacy, mobile smarts & other cyber related issues, you will be entered to win one of three iPad minis and $500 to your BGCA club of choice.
June is internet Safety Awareness Month.
• Sprint and BGCA invite parents to ask questions about cyber related concerns.
• BGCA has a panel of teen boys & girls from all over the world as ambassadors to answer from a teen perspective, any parent questions you may have.
• There answers will help parents feel more comfortable and to help avoid any issues that may come up for their children and teens online.
• BGCA is committed to keeping kids safe, and that also means keeping kids safe online.
• Today’s youth is more tech savvy than us parents and they do not realize what risks some websites can pose.
• By utilizing resources and learning more about cyber safety, you can help kids have a cyber safe future.
Please see these additional resources for reference:
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bgca.clubs?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BGCA_Clubs
I actually don’t even allow my kids online yet because I worry so much about their safety! I know I will someday, just not yet.
We are pretty careful about our kids do online plus my husband is an IT guy so he is pretty familiar with the computer and technology. Our kids are not on social media yet and don’t seem to have an interest yet but I know they will soon.
We are pretty careful about what our kids can see on social media. We monitor their social media accounts carefully.
This is a great post. It is important to be cautious about what kids see and do online.
I do not have children so thankfully I don’t have to worry about that, but I used to be a Special Education Teacher and devices in the classroom were a huge challenge just for that reason, monitoring what young people visit online is a such a tremendous challenge!
I’m thankful that my kids are grown and I didn’t have to worry about these things but my grandchildren will be online in no time at all so we need to keep up to date on everything
I don’t think anyone is ever truly safe online. I think we all need to be careful, but as parents even more so. .I’m very very strict when it comes to computer time!
I am SO careful about my kids getting online and what they can view and can’t view. It is so important because there is so much out there that is just not good :/
I can definitely see how it’s important to talk to your kids about online safety. They can access almost anything with a smartphone alone.
This is something I constantly worry about. The older my boys get the more I am looking for new ways to protect them. Thank you for sharing this.
What a great post. Even though my son is 18 I still try to keep track of what he does online.
My oldest just turned 11 and so many of her friends are already very active on social media. She has not asked me for her own accounts yet but making sure she is safe and protected are extremely important to me.
I am so wary of what is online and how much access my kids have to it. I know I’ve got lots of questions, so it’s good to know where togo to get answers.
Parents of teens, if you could please get it all figured out now so I don’t have to worry when my kids get there I’d appreciate it. There’s so much to know!
Kids are getting online younger and younger so we have to protect them! I definitely try my best to put the best protection software around my nephew!
Kiddo is 10 and she isn’t really allowed online much. She will get on the laptop once in a while to play Minecraft or another game. She doesn’t have her own. She does have an iPod Touch, but she uses that mostly for Facetime to her siblings who live with their mom. When she does play games, she is monitored for use and time.
That’s a really good web site. You can never be too careful today when it comes to kids and their online safety. There are so many opportunities for predators out there that you just have to monitor your child’s social media activities to keep them safe.
Online safety is so important to teach our kids. I am glad my kids were older when they started on the computer.
I swear in this day and age you have to take the extra steps to make sure your kids are safe. It’s what I hate about the internet but it’s necessary.
We are constantly having to reevaluation our rules for our kids being online. Things change so quickly and there’s such easy access to things we don’t want them exposed to.
This really is something to be concerned about. I worry about it w/my teen and w/my 7-yr old son.
Internet safety is definitely a huge concern for me. My daughter is way too young to be on the computer right now, but when she’s old enough I’m definitely going to talk to her about how to be safe.
Our kids love using the internet and I’m always worried about the kids stumbling on something. This sounds like a great app.