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Parental Resources
The Internet is a valuable tool for adults and children alike. It plays a major role in business, research, and entertainment. Because of it's increasing presence in the workplace, it is really beneficial for children, at any age, to become familiar with what the Internet is, and how to use it. The Internet is also a dangerous place for children. It has become a new hunting ground for child predators, otherwise known as "child molesters". You would be amazed at how easy it is to get information about someone using the Internet! There is an excellent demonstration of this in a Flash presentation called "Tracking Teresa" in the Teen Area of NetSmartz. I cannot recommend this highly enough. It is very eye opening and it even raises concerns for adults. If you click on no other link here, click on that one. It will be undoubtedly be the most enlightening 5 minutes you spend on the Internet today. Kudos to "The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children®" and "The Boys & Girls Clubs of America" for putting that together! So, we want our children to learn how to use the Internet and benefit from all the good it has to offer. But many parents, however, find themselves with the dilemma of trying to protect their children's safety while they are online. How do you do it? Well, first and foremost, you want to install a content filter on the computer that your child will be using. CYBERsitter is an good content filter that I recommend. Content filters give you the ability to control when your child goes on the Internet, where they can go and what they can see. They are NOT fool proof, but they will give you a very good running start on protecting your children while they are on the Internet. I have done a great of research on the subject of protecting your children while on the Internet, and I have comprised a short list below of what I consider to be the most valuable places to visit on this subject. In my research, I have weeded out the trivial sites, leaving only pertinent, quality information. These are all from very reputable sources including the FBI, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Microsoft, Disney, and more. They have all done a great job of presenting information on this subject. I think each of the links below will be worth the time spent visiting them.
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