Internet safety for kids is a subject that I write about quite often. As my kids get older their exposure to the internet continues to grow. It is my job as a parent to teach them how to use the internet in a responsible manner. I recognize that I cannot block every unsavory aspect of the web but I can teach my kids what is ok and what is not. One day, my kids will need to make those decisions for themselves, when I am not there looking over their shoulder. Now is the time to guide the kids along the right path.

Today happens to be my site’s first birthday. It is no surprise that my very first parenting tip was about internet safety. I hope that you will take the time to celebrate this milestone with me and revisit that first post.

And here are twenty more things to consider.

20 Steps Towards Internet Safety for Kids

1. Centrally locate your computer so you can see what sites your children are visiting.
2. Make a list of acceptable sites and bookmark them. Teach your kids to use these bookmarks.
3. Require your children to ask permission to visit sites that are not on the list.
4. Periodically check your browser’s history of visited sites.
5. Set your browser to block pop up windows.
6. Teach your children not to click on ads or pop up ads.
7. Teach your children not to download anything without permission.
8. Talk to your children about how to identify a questionable site and what to do in that situation.
9. Enable the Google Safe Search filter to aid with internet safety.
10. If you allow instant messaging and chat, watch those interactions like a hawk.
11. Keep a list of your children’s passwords to email accounts and websites and let them know that you may check in periodically.
12. If you allow your children to interact on social websites like MySpace or Facebook, open your own account and add your kids as your friends and vice versa.
13. Surf the net for your kids. Introduce your kids to websites that you approve of and that your kids might enjoy.
14. Limit the time that your kids are allowed to spend on the computer.
15. Only allow internet use during specified times when you know that you will be available to supervise.
16. Get fun software for the computer. Instead of using the internet, kids can spend time creating projects or working with digital photographs, etc.
17. Make sure your anti-virus software and firewall software is up to date.
18. Monitor internet activity when friends are over.
19. Talk to your child about using the internet responsibly when they are at a friends house and what they should do if the other child is not practicing good internet safety.
20. Research and determine if parental internet safety software is needed in your family situation.

Now that my kids are getting older, they are starting to use the internet a lot more for both school and leisure. As a parent, I try to stay on top of their online activities (see my previous post on internet safety) but I am not looking over their shoulder every minute that they are on the computer.

Especially troublesome is when there is a school project that they must research. When they do an internet search using Google or another search engine, there is no telling what type of results they may get.

In our home the search engine of choice is Google. Today I just discovered a small link at on Google’s homepage right next to the search box labelled “Preferences”. When you click on this there is an option called “Safe Search Filtering” where you can block pages containing offending content from your search results. This filter can be set to strict, moderate, or none.

While this is no substitute for parental supervision - it does contribute to internet safety and adds a small level of comfort.

Check it out!