Although many parents make a point of not letting their offspring use the computer alone to use the Internet, there are many other sources through which they can now enjoy it without their parents realising.
Internet cafés and even many schools allow children to surf unsupervised and expose themselves to the danger of sites whose content is unsuitable or even harmful for children.
To sensitise your children to these issues, you should work with them to educate them and find out exactly what dangers are really lurking and where.
Even if children often become little computer experts more quickly, their interest will primarily be focussed on the interesting offers, such as sites with music, games, e-mail programmes or downloadable software. This is where the fraudsters come in, targeting the gullibility of children.
So educate your children about the tricks these scammers use to get them to do things.
The range extends from spam mail, i.e. unwanted mail, address collection, data espionage, viruses, Trojans and worms to criminal acts by luring users to sites with pornographic or violent content, right-wing extremist agitation and even paedophiles who seek out their victims in this way.
Make them realise that seemingly harmless pages with jokes, music or competitions are often used as bait. Explain how and why spam gets into the inbox and what to do with these messages, i.e. delete them unopened and never reply to any messages of this kind.
Chain mails are often nothing more than disguised address collectors who rely on the distribution of the mails to obtain the information.
Only through this educational work can you gain confidence in your children's PC skills and be sure that you can let them surf unsupervised at home and elsewhere with a clear conscience.
Practical tips for at home
- In addition to the sources of danger mentioned above, some rules for using the Internet should be discussed with children under the age of 10.
- A list of authorised sites with safe content can be drawn up, which children must restrict themselves to. This list can be updated in the presence of an adult.
- If suspicious pages or e-mails appear, the child should always consult an adult immediately before doing anything themselves or opening an e-mail or website.
- Even though the exciting thing about chatting is that you can get in touch with strangers, younger children should only be allowed to do this with friends whose identity is known. Children of this age are in no way able to recognise false intentions at an early stage.
- Before using CDs, DVDs or software, an adult should check them for viruses to protect the PC.
- Make it clear to the children that under no circumstances should they pass on personal data such as address, telephone number or other information and why this can be dangerous.
- Trust is good, control is better - some parents may think, whose offspring are not always as understanding and obedient as they would like. Sometimes you can also prevent children from accessing forbidden sites by checking the pages accessed in the browser after each use.
- Generally speaking, however, banning the use of the internet is not the solution, as children have more and more opportunities to access a PC and circumvent bans. Instead of preventing trust from arising in the first place, you should encourage it by providing a little help.
