Online Family Safety

Raising the Family Online Safety IQ

By Jennifer Martinez

How much do you and your family know about online safety? A little? A lot? As much as you should? If you’re a regular visitor to this website, you probably know more than most people, but the more you know the safer your family will be.

We would like to introduce to you some other good, informative websites that address online safety issues. Some of them are geared to specific age groups -- younger kids, teens (and you). All of them can help your family raise its Online Safety IQ.

1. iKeepSafe -- For young kids and parents
   Aimed at younger kids and parents, iKeepSafe features games, videos, and other educational content to help kids learn appropriate online behavior and how to avoid online risks. For parents, there are tips on the three primary online risks faced by children -- inappropriate contact, inappropriate content and inappropriate conduct. The site also provides advice to help parents protect their kids from these risks by keeping current with technology, communicating with their kids, and checking on their online activities. Included are family fun lessons, videos, and tutorials for the whole family.

2. StaySafeOnline -- For parents, educators, and small business
   StaySafeOnline, the website of the National Cyber Security Alliance, provides comprehensive Internet safety tips for kids, parents, educators and small businesses. For the family, it offers a self assessment quiz that will give you a basic analysis of your family’s safety awareness and practices. In a section of the site called “Protect Your Children,” it provides thorough information about online safety and security, tools for searching, filtering and monitoring your kids’ online activities, cyber bullying and harassment, and more.

3. iSafe -- For kids, parents, and educators,
   iSafe takes a different approach to Internet safety education by providing a series of training modules that consist of videos and supplemental materials. The site encourages kids (teens), parents, and educators, as well as law enforcement officials to complete the appropriate training modules and become mentors. As a mentor, you can mentor your own family or use what you’ve learned to educate neighbors, your community, and beyond. The site also enables you to set up online virtual training sessions for groups of parents, students, or educators. In addition to free materials, iSafe also sells complete Internet safety curriculum materials for educators and guides for parents.

4. WebWiseKids -- For teens
   Focused on teens, WebWiseKids educates teens via Internet safety computer games based on real life scenarios. In addition, there is a program for parents, “Wired with Wisdom,” that uses stories, videos and activities to enhance your knowledge of online safety issues. All of WebWiseKids training materials are available for download. Note, however, that a suggested donation is required to download games and materials.

5. TheBeehive -- For kids and families
   The Beehive is a broad public service website with sections on everything from health and housing to work and school. It also includes a good concise section on basic Internet safety that features information on how to keep your kids, family, identity and computer safe from hackers and malware. Of particular interest to many families and educators, the site offers both English and Spanish versions.

6. ConnectSafely -- For teens, parents, and educators
   ConnectSafely focuses on social networking and blogging safety for teens, parents, educators, advocates, and anyone else interested in the social Web. The site includes tips and a forum where parents can get their social networking questions answered. Also, from the site you can subscribe to an e-newsletter called Net Family News, which provides a weekly digest of the most relevant news stories about online safety.

Get Smart and Stay Smart

The ways we use the Internet are constantly evolving. As a result, what we needed to know and do to stay safe online just a few years ago is at least isn’t enough. So in addition to good, updated Internet security software, you need to be aware of the latest threats and how to combat them.