[Robin]

Today I came across an online editorial from a Wiconsin newspaper. The Wausau Daily Herald touched on a recent online safety presentation made in that community. The editorial made several good points about keeping kids safe online and the current Internet environment today. You can read it at the Daily Heard's website.

To me, the best part of the editorial came in its last couple of paragraphs. That is where it repeated the three main guidelines for being safe online as provided by Kristine Midthun of the CyberTipline for the Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation:

1. If kids feel scared or uncomfortable online, they should tell an adult.




2. Children never should give out personal information.




3. They should never meet anyone off-line whom they haven't met in person before.

As pointed out in the editorial, those rules are not so different from what our parents and probably their parents said years ago. In conclusion, the editorial states:

"But it's worth remembering that, even though children might be using their computers at home, when they're using the Internet they are also, in a sense, out in the world."

Robin

For a great tool in helping your children navigate the Internet waves, please check out PGsurfer.

To learn more about online safety - and a great place for kids online - go to SafeSurfer.org.