The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Your Kids Safe Online:
44 Valuable Sites and Resources

Child using computer.
Photo by Tanya Ryno

The Internet is an invaluable resource for your child, both in terms of learning as well as in fostering healthy social interactions. But the Internet also has a much-publicized dark side: Predators, porn, and cyberbullying are just a sampling of the unsavory situations your child can encounter online.

To protect your children from online dangers—while still allowing them to take full advantage of the wealth of learning the Internet has to offer—parents must be technologically informed and astute. Here, we'll go over the top internet safety tips and look at 44 sites and resources designed to help parents learn everything they need to know about keeping their kids safe online.


Tip #1: Be a Browser-Savvy Parent

Know how to check your kids' browser history to see where they've been online.

  1. Check Browser History in Internet Explorer — This is currently the most commonly-used browser on the Internet. Here's how to check a list of recently visited pages.
  2. Check Browser History in Firefox — A guide to checking history in the second most popular browser online.
  3. Check Browser History in Safari — Safari is the browser used by Apple. It has a smaller user base, but if you've got a Mac at home, this is the browser that's installed.

You could also consider having your kids use a browser especially designed to be kid-safe.

  1. Child-Safe Browser Reviews by PC Magazine — An assortment of browsers designed with parental controls built right in.

Tip #2: Get an Internet Monitor

Internet monitoring software allows you to track your child's activity online, block certain sites, schedule the time your child can spend online, and screen out child predators. Each of the programs listed below works great, but our personal favorite is Net Nanny.

  1. Net Nanny — An easy to use but extremely powerful way to block porn, hate sites, and sexual predators, as well as monitor your child's Internet use.
  2. CyberPatrol — A leader in the Parental Control software market, CyberPatrol is also used in many schools and work places to prevent undesirable online activity.
  3. CYBERsitter — One of the original Internet filters, CYBERsitter keeps kids safe by restricting access to millions of objectionable Internet web sites and providing detailed logs of all Internet access
  4. Windows Vista Parental Controls — This guide by Microsoft will show you how to activate the free parental controls that come installed with the Windows Vista operating system.
Child using cell phone.
Photo by Tavallai

Tip #3: Pay Attention to Your Kid's Cell Phone!

Once a sexual predator makes contact with a child online, they will often suggest moving the conversation to cell phones. That's because they know that cell phone communications are more difficult to preserve as evidence than online chats and e-mails.

If your child has a cell phone, it's critically important that you know who is calling or texting them and when.

  1. Monitor Your Child's Cell Phone, Text Messages, and Email With Alerts to Unauthorized Activity — This program monitors your child's cell phone and immediately alerts you if he or she receives unapproved email, text messages, or phone calls.

Tip #4: Decode Your Kids' Net-Speak

Kids can keep much of their online behavior a mystery to their parents by masking it in a maze of acronyms, abbreviations, and emoticons. To decipher what they're really saying, the following tools are invaluable:

  1. The Top 50 Acronyms Every Parent Needs to Know — The sex-related acronyms most commonly used in chat rooms and phone text messages.
  2. 50 Acronyms Every Parent Needs to Know — These acronyms are more innocent, but you should still understand what they mean.
  3. The Largest List of Text Message Shorthand (IM, SMS) and Internet Acronyms Found on the Web — A giant list of net acronyms. You should be able to find just about anything here.
  4. Smileys, Emoticons, Japanese Smileys, Assicons, Boobiecons, ASCII Art — Smileys ;-) can say a lot more than you might think, and without using any words at all. Here's a parents guide to those mysterious little squiggles.
  5. Teen Chat and Acronyms Decoder Software — Just type a term into this program and it will instantly translate net-speak into English.

Tip #5: Know Your Social Networking Safety Rules

Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are one of the most common ways predators approach kids online. Teach your child how to keep their profile private, how to avoid posting personal or embarrassing information, and how to recognize the signs of a predator.

  1. Social Networking Basics — An interactive Flash video guide to setting up and protecting a MySpace profile, as well as how to report inappropriate content or contacts.
  2. MySpace Safety Tips — A guide published by MySpace.com, detailing social networking safety tips for parents and teens. Resources also include mobile safety guidelines, settings to ensure a safe MySpace profile, and safety videos.
  3. Social Networking Sites: A Parent's Guide — Published by the Federal Trade Commission, this guide shows parents how to help their kids socialize safely online. The FTC also publishes a teen's guide to safe social networking.
  4. How to Help Your Kids Use Social Web Sites More Safely — Microsoft's advice on staying safe when using sites like Windows Live Spaces, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and others.
  5. MySpace and Social Networking Safety Recommendations for Parents and Children — A great list of social networking safety tips from SafeFamilies.org.

You also might consider having your child join a social network designed specifically for kids instead.

  1. imbee: A Free Social Network for Kids, Teachers, & Parents — A parent approved, teacher endorsed social networking site appropriate for kids and tweens.
  2. Anne's Diary: Setting New Standards in Online Safety — Only for girls between the ages of 6 and 15, Anne's diary is the only social networking site to use biometric technology to verify the age and identity of users.
  3. Webkinz — Your child can care for their virtual pet, answer trivia, and play fun online games. In the KinzChat area, the chat is entirely constructed of pre-written phrases, so there is no way for users to type what they want, exchange any personal information, or ask or say anything inappropriate.
  4. Club Penguin: Waddle Around and Meet New Friends! — Like KinzChat, Club Penguin's Ultimate Safe Chat limits what users can say to a predefined menu of greetings, questions, and statements.
Teen using computer.
Photo by Bombardier

Note, however, that unlike imbee and Anne's Diary, adults are able to join and participate in Webkinz and Club Penguin. Whenever any child is using a social networking site they should always follow standard safety guidelines, even if the site is designed for children.


Tip #6: Be Aware of the Content of the Online Games Your Children are Playing

Due to their interactive and multiplayer nature, many computer games can expose your child to just as many online dangers as a chat room or social networking site. And that's not even mentioning the sex and violence kids may encounter in many of these games.

  1. What They Play — Dubbing itself "the parents guide to video games," this site provides parents with expert insight into the themes and content of hundreds of video games.

Tip #7: Find Out if There are Sexual Predators Living in Your Neighborhood

While sexual predators will travel great distances to target children, it's important to know who the sex offenders are in your immediate area, as well as how to recognize if your child is being targeted.

  1. National Sex Offender Registry — This free service maps registered sex offenders to see who lives in your area.
  2. Online Predators: Help Minimize the Risk — This is Microsoft's guide to recognizing when your child is being targeted and how to minimize the risk.

Tip #8: Use an Internet Safety Contract

An Internet safety contract lays out the do's and don'ts of your child's online behavior, making it explicitly clear what's acceptable. The following contracts cover all the bases.

  1. Computer Safety Agreement from Internet 101 — A downloadable PDF that includes both the parent's promises and the child's promises for online behavior.
  2. Family Internet Safety Contract from ProtectKids.com — 17 rules your child must agree to while online.
  3. Our Family's Safety Contract [PDF] — Created by D.A.R.E America, family members should review and sign this safety contract, then post it near the computer (note: This is a PDF download).
Child being scolded.
Photo by morgan childers

Tip #9: CyberBullying is a Serious Problem, Too

Children targeting other children online with harassment and insults is an often-overlooked—but extremely serious—issue that can damage a child's self-esteem and self-image.

These guides will show you how to recognize if your child has been the victim of cyberbullying, or is even engaging in cyberbullying themselves.

  1. Challenging Cyber Bullying — A good quick overview to help you understand what cyberbullying is.
  2. CyberSmart's Cyberbullying Package — This is a complete cyberbullying education package, complete with lesson plans and worksheets. Especially useful for K-12 educators, but very helpful for concerned parents too.
  3. Downloadable Fact Sheets and Resources to Prevent and Respond to Cyberbullying — Several printable documents to help you better understand cyberbullying, including warning signs to look for and a script to promote discussion about cyberbullying with your child.
  4. STOP Cyberbullying — This site details what cyberbullying is, how it works, and how to understand and deal with cyberbullies.

Tip #10: Know Who to Contact

Whether it's your local police, a child advocacy group, or the FBI, you should know who to contact if your feel your child has been the victim of a crime on the Internet. The following resources will show you the steps to take.

  1. Who Should You Contact for Help? — GetNetWise shows you who to contact and when, so you know which agency is the appropriate place to report an offence.
  2. ICAC Task Force Program — Locate your local Internet Crimes Against Children taskforce.

Tip #11: Familiarize Yourself with General Internet Safety Guides for Parents

The Internet is full of great (and not-so-great) all-around guides to Internet safety for children. These are two of the best resources for parents wanting a solid general overview of what the dangers really are and how to keep their child safe online.

  1. A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety — Written by the FBI, this is a detailed guide to preventing child exploitation online.
  2. Growing Up Online — A special by PBS's Frontline program discussing how the Internet is changing the experience of childhood. You can watch the whole episode online.

Tip #12: Finding More Resources

The resources outlined above will give you a firm foundation in the specific areas of online safety that are often of greatest concern. To explore this topic further, here are some of the best sites dedicated to protecting kids online.

  1. WiredKids — WiredKids.org is actually part of a network of sites created by Parry Aftab, one of the most important authorities in online safety and parent and child Internet education.
  2. WEB|WISE|KIDS — This site offers interactive simulations based on real-life criminal cases, designed for use with young people in classrooms and computer labs. They also have an online game designed to provide parents, teachers, law enforcement officers, & youth leaders with useful information about keeping kids safe online.
  3. GetNetWise — A great resource for helping to ensure your child has a safe, constructive, and educational or entertaining online experiences. Includes several video tutorials.
  4. NetSmartz Kids — An interactive educational safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. This site uses age-appropriate, 3-D activities to teach children how to stay safer on the Internet.
  5. NetSmartz411: Internet Safety Helpdesk — This site is designed to be a 1-stop resource for answering parent's questions about online safety.
  6. iKeepSafe Internet Safety Coalition — Tons of video tutorial and activity lessons to help parents, teens, and children learn about Internet safety.

Tip #13: Keep it All in Perspective

While keeping your kids safe online and preventing them from accessing inappropriate material is extremely important, the Internet still has a ton to offer, both in terms of information and social interactions. Remain vigilant, but don't let your concerns deprive your kids from a rich understanding of the web.

The following report by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force shows that children are unlikely to be propositioned by adults online unless they are willing participants and are already at risk because of poor home environments, substance abuse, or other problems.

  1. Report Finds Online Threats to Children Overblown — NYTimes.com covers a recent study showing that cyberbullying on social networks actually poses a more serious problem than sexual solicitation.

Of course it's important to understand the threats, know how the internet works, and keep your kids safe, but don't forget to have fun, too!