Keeping Our Children Safe – Online

We have two little ones with their own electronic devices, loaded with ABC Mouse, YouTube Kids and a few preschool games, and even though we use parental controls, we still have had to report videos, one in particular, we felt were not suitable to the age groups they were being played to.  It appears that YouTube Kids listened and we have not seen the offending videos.   Had they not removed the videos, our next step would be to report them to the Federal Trade Commission's FTC Complaint Assistant.

Do your young ones (and older children) play videos games, watch videos, chat with their friends on line?  If so, do you have the tools needed to keep your children safe online?

Do you know about the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)?  COPPA is a law created to protect the privacy of children under 13, and is managed by the FTC.  To learn about this law and how it works to protect your kiddies, go here.  

My go-to sources on keeping our kiddies safe online is a .pdf printable "Chatting With Kids About Being Online" offered by the FTC, and “A Guide to Protecting Children’s Privacy Online,” newly updated by Alex Smith.  Both Guides offer excellent tips on how to talk to your kiddies from the early years through their teens on using on-line communications, on cyberbullying, phishing scams, using public Wi-Fi securely, and more.  I consider both MUST READS.

It’s not enough that we have to keep our children safe outside the home, we have to protect them inside, too.

TRISH