Many thanks to Bing for sponsoring today’s post, and inspiring me to share about their #adfreesearch classroom initiative.
My 5-year-old has been able to run an iPad since before she could speak in full sentences. Technology has become a way of life for the upcoming generation and it is our job to teach them how to use it correctly.
One of the scariest things to me about sending my daughter to school in the fall is that I will no longer be her primary source of information. There will be teachers, other students and eventually the internet giving her information. While I trust the people she will be around, I know all too well the terrible things that can be found on the internet. Here are some tips to help keep your children safe while they are online.
1. Set time limits. Limit internet access on smart phones as well as computers.
2. Know your kids username and password for any site they are a member of, also follow them or friend them so you can see what they are posted. Use strong privacy settings on their accounts to keep strangers from communicating with them.
3. Keep the computer in a central location where it is easily seen by everyone in the house.
4. Keep personal information to yourself. Teach your child to never give their name, school, address or other personal information to somebody online. Teach them that not everybody is who they say they are online.
5. Talk to your kids about cyber bullying. Teach them to report cyber bulling and not participating in it. Teach your kids to not give their passwords to anybody but you.
6. Be careful of what YOU say or post online. Are you posting embarrassing pictures of them that might be found later by schoolmates or future employers? Your children may be little now, but they won’t always be little and once it is on the internet, it is there forever.
7. Teach your kids to not click on ads or pop-ups on sites. This is where Bing in the Classroom comes in to help keep our kids safe while at school.
It takes a lot of help to keep kids safe online and Bing is stepping up to the plate to do their part with #adfreesearch. It allows children at school to search the internet with Bing, ad free and with adult content filtered out. It protects your children when you can’t be there to monitor them yourself.
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Bing is not only supporting our children with ad free searches, but you can also sign up to support your school with Bing Rewards.
This sounds really cool! I hardly ever let my kids get on the computer for fear of what they might find. Thanks for the tips.
Such great advice! I feel the same way, I am not ready for my little girl to lose her innocence yet with some of the things she might find outside of our home. Thanks for the tips!
This is why I moved my computer to the desk in the kitchen. So much easier to see what is going on… while I cook. 🙂
Great post! It is scary knowing that other people will be feeding them info. I still have one more year so I am going to remain in denial haha! Love the tips though!
We have always had our computers in a public location to keep an eye on everything. We also have all the phones and tablets plugged into a central location before bedtime. They aren't allowed to have electronics in their bedrooms. This is a great idea!
Great suggestions! I think #3 is the most important!