Many websites offer reasonably safe environments for kids or teenagers. These sites are continually monitored and any unreasonable or explicit behaviour and/or language will not be tolerated.
A few sites worth checking out are <a href="www.chathour.com/chatroom/13_-_17_Year_Olds"> Chat Hour </a>, a chat room for 13 to 17 year olds, <a href="www.chat-avenue.com/teenchat.html"> Chat Avenue </a>, tailored to 14 to 16 year-olds or <a href="www.kids.com"> Kids.com </a>, a fun site for kids of all ages, including teenagers.
Parents should, however, be aware of the fact that these sites can get very busy, making it almost impossible to monitor every conversation all the time.
Furthermore, it is possible for potential predators to find their way even into these sites, by pretending to be someone they are not.
Once contact with a child/teenager has been established and a certain amount of trust has been gained, contact can then be extended to areas outside of these safe environments, presenting the youngster as an easy target.
Communication with people from around the world can be a wonderful, educational experience. Kids should nonetheless be made aware of possible threats and must report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable to their parents immediately.
It must also be made clear to them that they should never reveal personal details such as age, gender, schools or clubs they attend, addresses or phone numbers. They should also pick a nickname which is gender-neutral.
Younger kids should at best only be allowed to share family e-mail addresses, while older ones should have an e-mail address within their parent's account.
Parents need to monitor the sites their children are visiting, in particular if their behaviour appears to be changing when online. For this reason, kids should only be able to go online in family rooms where the screen can be seen.
A few sites worth checking out are <a href="www.chathour.com/chatroom/13_-_17_Year_Olds"> Chat Hour </a>, a chat room for 13 to 17 year olds, <a href="www.chat-avenue.com/teenchat.html"> Chat Avenue </a>, tailored to 14 to 16 year-olds or <a href="www.kids.com"> Kids.com </a>, a fun site for kids of all ages, including teenagers.
Parents should, however, be aware of the fact that these sites can get very busy, making it almost impossible to monitor every conversation all the time.
Furthermore, it is possible for potential predators to find their way even into these sites, by pretending to be someone they are not.
Once contact with a child/teenager has been established and a certain amount of trust has been gained, contact can then be extended to areas outside of these safe environments, presenting the youngster as an easy target.
Communication with people from around the world can be a wonderful, educational experience. Kids should nonetheless be made aware of possible threats and must report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable to their parents immediately.
It must also be made clear to them that they should never reveal personal details such as age, gender, schools or clubs they attend, addresses or phone numbers. They should also pick a nickname which is gender-neutral.
Younger kids should at best only be allowed to share family e-mail addresses, while older ones should have an e-mail address within their parent's account.
Parents need to monitor the sites their children are visiting, in particular if their behaviour appears to be changing when online. For this reason, kids should only be able to go online in family rooms where the screen can be seen.
