Parents’ Guide to Safe Surfing

Suggested Rules For Children’s Internet Browsing

• Keep passwords, pictures, and secrets to yourself.
• Remind your children never to arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they first met online.
• Teach your children not to post anything on the Internet that they wouldn’t want others to see.
• Help them remember that people they meet online aren’t always who they say they are.
• Let your children know that they shouldn’t say anything online that they would not say in public.
• Tell them not to respond to messages that are inappropriate or make them feel uncomfortable in any way.
• Encourage your children to come to you if they encounter a problem online.

What Should Your Child Do About A Cyberbully?

• Never reply to anyone in anger.
• Stop, block and tell – don’t reply, block the sender, tell someone.
• Save the message and show a trusted adult.
• Be a friend — if you know of someone who is being cyberbullied, let your parent know.
• Parents should consider reporting the cyberbullying to local law enforcement authorities.

Signs That Your Child Might Be “At Risk” Online

• Your child spends large amounts of time online, especially at night.
• You find pornography on your child’s computer.
• Your child receives phone calls from adults who you don’t know or your child makes calls, sometimes long distance, to numbers you don’t recognize.
• Your child receives mail, gifts or packages from someone you don’t know.
• Your child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor when you come into the room.
• Your child becomes withdrawn from the family.
• Your child is using an online account belonging to someone else.

Minimize The Chances Of An Online Predator Victimizing Your Child

• Understand that if your child comes into contact with an online predator, it is not the child’s fault. The child is the victim.
• Talk to your child about sexual victimization and the potential of online danger.
• Spend time with your children online. Have them teach you about the Internet.
• Keep the computer in a common room of the house, not in your child’s bedroom.
• Utilize parental controls available from your service provider or use blocking software.
• Always maintain access to your child’s online account and monitor email.
• Teach your children the responsible use of the online resources.
• Find out the computer safeguards being utilized at your child’s school, the public library, and at the home of your child’s friends.
• Never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met online.
• Never automatically assume that what they are told online is the truth.

For more information about cyber safety for children and teens, please visit the Cyber Safety Section of the Arkansas Attorney General’s main website here.

When it comes to your Internet safety, we’ve got your back, Arkansas.