Rules For Safe Surfing with Children

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.

Hodding Carter

There are a small number of rules that it is wise to follow when surfing the web with children

• Always surf the web with young children.
• Always warn children NEVER to give out personal details (such as their address, telephone number or even school name) or agree to meet someone that they don't already know.
• Treat everyone on the web as a stranger.
• Only visit known sites with children. Either bookmark them or use a reputable site (such as this one!) that provides links.
• With older children, place your computer in a public room where it will be easy to keep an eye on them.
• Encourage your children to use instant messaging for chat rather than public chatrooms. Check the contact details of friends, or obtain the details from carers and add them yourself.
• If older children are allowed to surf the web, then install some "web-nanny" software.
• If your child has an e-mail address then make sure you have good spam filtering either provided by a software package or your internet service provider (ISP). If they do get a rude or unpleasant e-mail then tell them NEVER to reply to it, but do tell them to talk to you.
• If a child is disturbed by web content or receives a disturbing email or instant message, then reassure them that it's not their fault.
• Encourage your child to talk about their online experiences - it will steadily become an integral part of their lives as they grow older and they need to develop a responsible attitude to it.

Useful advice websites