Keeping Kids Safe Online
Everyone has heard frightening stories about children that have been lured into danger because they had a MySpace page or other kind of web page listing their personal information. But forbidding kids from using these sites usually proves futile, so it is better instead to teach them how to be safe on the Internet.

Online Safety Tips for Grade Schoolers

• Teach your child never to put his picture, address or phone number anywhere on the Internet.
• Make it very clear that he should never arrange to meet anyone he has met on the Internet unless you are with him. (There are some appropriate message boards and sites for kids to talk, so it doesn’t make sense to tell your child to never talk to anyone online.)
• Encourage your child to tell you right away of he sees anything on the Internet that scares or disturbs him. That goes for email, too.
• Set limits on the amount of computer time your child gets—this has to be a decision that you make as a family. But keep sessions short: The last thing you want is for a child this age to be sitting at the computer and not reading, exercising or playing with friends.