Realwomen of BC - Archives - March2008

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THE REAL NEWS The R.E.A.L WOMEN of BC Newsletter March 2008, P.O. Box 39068, Point Grey RPO, Vancouver, BC V6R 4P1, Tel/Fax: 604- 463-1611, website: http://www.realwomen.bc.ca
Internet awareness The internet has become so much part of all our lives that we cannot imagine being without it. It can be a great tool but needs to be monitored for children. Today’s kids are incredibly computer savvy. In our own house our children way outperform us parents. So here are a few tips. The computer should always be in a very visible, high traffic area. No child or teenager should have a computer with internet access in his or her bedroom (actually, they probably should not have a television in there either). Parents should regularly check the history button to see what is going on. Frankly, more parents need to become familiar with the internet as their kids are probably running circles around them. Make sure you talk to your children about safety issues on the net. Never (did I say never?) give out personal information such as name, address, city, birth dates, or even the name of the school your child is attending. Also, your child should never post a photo of him or herself in the school uniform on the net. A predator can easily figure out what school your child is attending. Tell your child that whatever he or she posts on the web, will be there for all to see. No, there really is no true security as we have just read again in the newspaper. Also, even if information is deleted, it is never truly gone and can still be found later on. This can actually backfire further down the road. What if your son decides to run for office one day just to have the media dig up something that he has posted on the net ten years before? Also remind your child that we have laws that prohibit hateful comments about someone’s religion, race, sexual orientation, etc. It is up to us parents to learn as much as we can to help our kids stay safe and use the internet in a proper manner.