Safety tips for parents
(With gratitude to The Internet Watch Foundation)

As in the real world, the first line of defence is learning how to behave to keep out of trouble. This section takes you through good practices for all the family. It starts with our own Tips for Parents and Carers on this page (with more detail behind each tip) and then takes you through to our links page where you can find more online resources.

Getting Involved: Learn as much as you can about the Internet yourself. Surfing should be a family activity, so use the Internet together as often as you can and discuss any problems you encounter. Keep the computer in a room where the whole family can use it.

Getting In Touch: Get to know who your children are meeting online and make sure they are wary of strangers and never give out any personal information about themselves. Be particularly careful about children using chat rooms. Go through the SMART rules at the "Tips for Children" section of this Web site.

Getting Around: Keep an eye on the kind of material your children are looking at and make sure that they go to the sites that you want them to see and not to the ones that you don't. Consider using some of the filtering tools that are available to help you.

Getting 'Gifts': Unsolicited 'gifts' can contain offensive or potentially harmful files such as pornography or viruses. Teach your children not to open emails and attachments or download files other than from people they know and trust offline.

Be careful when you or your children are shopping online. Check that you are dealing with a bona fide company before giving out your credit card details or committing yourself to any transaction.

Getting Hooked: Limit the amount of time your children spend online, and encourage them to keep up their other activities and friendships. Keep the computer where you can check how long your children have been on the Net.

Getting The Benefit: Think positive. There are some wonderful resources for children to help them discover, create and connect with other children worldwide. Just as you look out for good TV programmes for children take the time to find the best and most useful sites for you and your family.