Cyberbullying – How to protect your children from the internet

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Jack Perry Jr, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

With the increasing number of teen suicides in the past year, it becomes increasingly important that parents exhibit protective measures to prevent their children from being victims of the internet. Cyberbullying has become a very hot topic in the last few years because of the negative effects it has on families worldwide, which is why I thought it was vital to write a post to give parents some tips on what they can do to keep their children safe.

Now, we all know what a bully is. I think we have discussed the characteristics of a bully to a pulp – angry; cynical; scared; insecure; feels good when they put others down. Knowing the qualities of a bully are helpful, but are not going to help you, as a parent, protect your children from them. Because cyberbullying is so cloudy – there are no obvious warning signs that you can physically see, like in-person bullying – it’s important that you start talking to your children about the implications and dangers early on. Here are my top five things you can do to help protect your kids from the online world:

1. The first thing you have to do is decide what sites your kids can and can’t visit. This will take a bit of time, but it’s an important and crucial first step. Find out what sites are popular in that age group. It may be social media sites, blogging sites or even gaming sites, and obviously inappropriate adult sites. The best way you will figure this out is by knowing your child and what they’re into at that age. Once you have compiled a detailed list of the sites you don’t want your children to be on, you can use the internet settings on your computer to prevent any of these sites from being visited by blocking the URLs. Many Windows software, for example, include parental control features to help you monitor, manage and administrator your children’s computer usage.

2. Just like you can set up parental controls on your computer, you can also increase the security and privacy on your computer as well. This means downloading antivirus software on your computer to protect your children from spam, setting limits on what your children can download by telling them that they need to either ask for permission before something is downloaded or to not download anything from unknown sources, and creating different user accounts. The last point is probably the most helpful because it means that you can give yourself an Administrator account, while your children each have a separate limited user account with different features. This is especially vital because it would mean that your children would not be able to install new software, including games, movies and chat programs.

3. Keep track of where your kids go online. You’re obviously not going to be with them every time they use the computer, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t monitor their usage. By checking their history list, you’ll be able to know what sites they’ve visited and when they were visited. If you notice anything strange, don’t keep it to yourself, but also don’t confront your child about it because that will only drive them away. Ask your child questions to try to learn more about their interests – it will give you a better perspective of where they’re at and why they might be going on the sites they do.

4. Have frequent, open discussions about not talking to strangers online. Your kids are smarter than you think, so give them credit by openly talking to them about these things. Let them share their thoughts on the matter, while you share your concerns. The more involved your children feel in these sort of discussions, the more likely they are to make responsible and smart choices online.

5. Finally, have a central location in the house where everyone leaves their devices, whether it be cell phones, iPods or iPads. Your kids may not like or agree with this at first, but if you lead by example they are more likely to comply and not complain. Have a family meeting and explain to your children why no one will sleep with their devices next to them. Then say that you will follow the rule as well so it’s fair.

Having rules and frequent conversations can do wonders to protect your children from cyberbullying. I mention those two as being the most important because you can have many limitations placed on your home computer, but if you don’t have those talks with your children, then those limitations won’t make much of a difference (because they can go somewhere else). Building a strong and healthy relationship with your kids is key, and will go a long way in protecting them from any online harm. So talk to your kids, be an open and nonjudgmental ear. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll actually learn about/from them.