I’m pretty sure there’s always been bad people in the world, but today it’s much easier for the people who want to harm your children.

Thousands of years ago they would still have been sneaking around, but if they wanted to do anything they would have had to leave their cave. People don’t need to leave their cave these days. Not when they can get inside your home and do lots of damage from the safety of their dark little bedroom. The Internet throws up a lot of concerns, especially for a worried parent. We can do anything online today and it’s already taken over the world.

Children need to be allowed to play online because it’s going to teach them valuable lessons. They will probably grow up and make their fortune online like everyone will be doing in a few years, so using it from a young age is important. They shouldn’t be anywhere near creepy little men and women who want to do them harm. That’s where you have to step in and control what they do. The Internet can be a safe place if you set it up that way. Here’s a few ways you can do it and keep your loved ones safe.

Get inside their head

The obvious thing that has to be done is speaking to them to find out if anything is wrong. You are not a psychic and can’t be expected to know what’s going on unless they tell you. That means you need to physically sit them down once per week and ask them questions. Try to find out if anything is wrong. If anything is wrong you can be pretty sure they won’t want to tell you, so the only way you’ll find out is by using your detective skills.

Buy some software

If you can’t rely on picking their brains you can actually look at what they’re doing. You just need to install some keylogger software. Whenever they type something on the computer the software will log what they’re doing. You then just have to come along and look at what it says. You better remember to tell them what you’re doing if you don’t want to lose their trust. Snooping isn’t nice, so just tell them you’ll be checking everything they do.

Add some filters

There’s millions of websites on the Internet and a huge proportion of them are ones you don’t want your children anywhere near. If you want to stop them from going on those sites you can install some parental filters to lock them out. The only way to get on them is to know a password, which they won’t be able to find out. If a site is blocked accidentally they can just ask you to type in the password.

Give them a chaperone

If you have more than one child you could maybe only let the youngest one online when they are with their brother or sister, who can look after them and teach them how to use the Internet safely at the same time. It’s also a job that either parent can do if you have the time. It’s something you have to do in the beginning so you can teach them the rules and how to stay safe.

Ask them to report to you

When something bad happens they should come and tell you straight away. This is where you have to train them to realize something is bad. If anyone strange asks them for pictures it’s bad. If someone asks where they live it’s bad. I think you know what I’m getting at. Train them to sense any danger so they don’t fall victim to anyone with bad intentions.

Bob Mckane is a computer security expert. He does computer monitoring software reviews and other security reviews to help people secure their computer.

Image courtesy of Claire Bloomfield / freedigitalphotos.net