The internet can be a wonderful place,filled with information on any topic,fun games and just about anything anyone can even imagine.

But,just like any other part of life,it can hold dangers for the unwary,especially children.

Here's some net tips for parents and kids to use to help keep safe and still be able to enjoy the richness of the internet culture.



  1. Never allow children to surf alone,make it a family activity.

  2. Never use a child's email address for *anything* outside of family correspondence.What I do with my youngest,who's 12 years old,is open a mail account with her and we check her mail together,she is only allowed to e-mail family members out of state.

    A really good e-mail provider for this purpose is Care-Mail.Care-Mail is a spam free,with a great cartoon interface and helps wildlife by donating a part of it's proceeds from banner ads to charity.But again,do it WITH your child,don't let them use it or any other email alone.

  3. Forbid kids from having programs like ICQ unless you set the privacy setting to prevent all unauthorized people from contacting your child,but even then,make sure you are right there to monitor.ICQ,incidentally, is a personal message system/chat style program that can allow people to contact other people in private,even strangers can get the number unless extra effort to keep it unlisted,not set for random chat,etc... I just don't think it should be accessible at all to kids under 15.

  4. Remove your e-mail address from webrings,your index page on your or your child's web site,etc... Spammers can grab email addresses from webrings or from the main page of websites.
    TO REMOVE YOUR E-MAIL FROM A WEB RING CODE...

    <a href="mailto:chimes@oocities.com">chimes.</a>

    Remove this entire line above or just the email address tags.

    <a href="mailto:chimes@oocities.com">



  5. When surfing,be sure to type the url to the page you want to visit *carefully*,I've seen unsavory sites use the name of popular sites,like search engines,but substituting the .com for .org,etc...

  6. Have the sites you'd like to share with your kids already screened beforehand,never run a search engine while the child is sitting right there.Words like kiddy,pics,photos,etc... can potentially bring up a list of horrid sites that no child should even have to read the title of!

  7. Avoid chat rooms,net pen pals,etc... period.Predators of children pretend to be children themselves,and believe me,you won't be able to tell.The 'net should not be used for kids socializing,ever.

  8. PARENTS: Even as adults,if you use a local I.S.P,*do not* use your I.S.P email account for anything public,like a family home page,newsgroups,anything that reveals that you have children or live alone,etc...
    Spam is not the only problem here.If you live in a small town it isn't hard to find out where a persons town is,all they have to do is put the part of your email address that comes after the @ into a search engine and they'll come up with your home town,and that may be too close for comfort.

    Play it safe and use only web mail accounts or a Geocities POP# account if you'd prefer to use a mail program to get your mail.
    Besides my Geocities account I also use Care-Mail for my public email,it's cheerful and happy.:)



Play it safe and follow your instincts,the net is no safer,but also no more dangerous that the local Mall,the problem lies only on our misconceptions about how "real" the internet is,it's very real and you'll need to take the same precautions here as you do at the mall,you wouldn't let a kid walk around alone,surrounded by strangers,would you? Same thing here on the net,go as a family and use your judgment and you'll have loads of fun and learn a thing or two along the way.:)



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