Keep Your Kids Safe
Festive cheer or festive fear?
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As the year winds down, and the sounds of Boney M singing ‘Feliz Navidad’ fill shopping malls countrywide; many adults look forward to a well earned break, or a few days rest. However: NO group is AS excited this time of year, as what children and teenagers are. They get a good 6 weeks off, and in many cases mom and dad will be working, so there is plenty 'home alone' time to boot. For many teenagers and children a family holiday at the sea could be on the horizon, meaning loads of ‘free time’ and the opportunity to ‘break away from the family and make new holiday friends’.
If the thought of all this ‘holiday freedom’ strikes fear into your heart (as a parent) you are certainly not alone. Many parents are concerned about the length of time their children/teens will need to occupy themselves with something other than school, homework and extra-mural activities.
Many parents will also be concerned about their children’s cell phone habits during the silly season. These very legitimate concerns could include:
a. The additional time available for cell phone usage, and NO enforced periods of cell phone ‘isolation’ when the child is at school.
b. Soaring airtime costs due to increased usage.
c. Adequate supervision of what the child is accessing via cell phone.
d. The influence of the child’s friends and other people on the child with regard to cell phone content, internet browsing and social networking.
e. An increase in cyber bullying(possibly affecting your child); due to all the free time children will have available and the chronic boredom that ALWAYS accompanies ‘lengthy periods of free time’.
THESE MIGHT ALL BE LEGITIMATE CONCERNS, BUT REMEMBER THAT DURING THIS HOLIDAY PERIOD, A CELL PHONE MIGHT SAVE A LIFE. WHEN USED RESPONSIBLY, YOUR CHILD’S CELL PHONE IS ESSENTIAL FOR HIS/HER SAFETY AND SECURITY!
At cellphonesafety.co.za, we are well aware of the VERY legitimate concerns many parents may have this time of the year, and will try to ‘ease’ the anguish with the tips, hints and advice below. Happy holidays, and a wonderful 2012 from everyone at www.cellphonesafety.co.za
1. SUPERVISION – KEEPING AN EYE ON YOUR CHILD’S CELL PHONE “FESTIVITIES”:
a. Do NOT increase your child’s airtime budget too much during the holidays – a little extra airtime is fine, but TOO much of an increase will ensure that your child spends the entire holiday GLUED to his/her phone.
b. Read our section on blocking adult sites, and contact your child’s cell phone service provider in order to activate this function – BOREDOM and free time are the primary reasons minors visit adult sites!
c. Insist on ‘cell phone’ free time during the holidays – whether at home or away. Children should NOT be allowed to use their cell phones 24/7 regardless of the fact that ‘holidays’ are in full swing. Ensure that your child spends time communicating with the family and NOT just with strangers and friends via cell phone. The extended period of ‘free time’ your child now has, COULD increase your child’s dependence on his/her cell phone, leading to possible addiction.
d. Ensure that any friends visiting your child are AWARE of the cell phone rules in your home (whether you are there to supervise or not).
e. If you have younger children at home, who are being ‘cared for’ by your older children whilst you work – PLEASE ensure that your older child does NOT visit illicit and explicit sites on home PC’s or cell phones during this time. It might be hard to monitor , BUT: you can tell the older child, that you will be ‘sweeping’ and ‘checking’ a recorded list of all websites visited on a regular basis throughout the holidays.
f. Ensure that your internet protection (your key to preventing your child from accessing sites he/she should not be) is activated and up to date (Net Nanny Etc). An OPEN internet is an invitation to hours and hours of ‘curious’ web surfing – often with undesirable results. This is also a good time to change any passwords required to activate/deactivate above mentioned protection (Chances are your child has already worked out what your current password is, and will be able to bypass the protection) – If you don’t want your child accessing the home computer at ALL unsupervised – change your access passwords.
g. Watch out for any increase in ‘bandwidth’ use – chances are your child has been ‘downloading’ on a free ticket.
h. Ensure that your children are once more, made AWARE of the consequences (punishment) should they break your ‘rules’ – Keep reminding them throughout the holidays, and when necessary dish out the punishment. 2 Days without a cell phone is akin to 2 days in hell for a teenager especially.
i. No need to be paranoid – just keep the channels of communication open, and talk to your child.
j. MOST IMPORTANTLY: ensure that the adults in the household set an ‘example’ with regard to responsible cell phone/internet use during the holidays. You can’t expect your child to obey a parent who is STUCK to a cell phone for the entire vacation. You can’t expect a child to obey a parent who spends 10 hours a day chatting on BB Messenger. You can’t expect a child to obey a parent who spends hours surfing adult websites in full view of the child. Keep it balanced!
2. GENERAL SAFETY:
a. When large numbers of people are on holiday/leave simultaneously, the pool of potential predators also increases. These unsavoury folk ALSO find themselves with more time on their hands, which translates to more time ‘surfing social networking sites’ and hunting their online prey. Give your children repeated warnings during the festive season about online contacts, strangers and persons approaching them online. Re-visit our articleabout online predators: Wolf in sheep’s clothing.
b. The festive season is also a time when peer pressure springs to the fore, groups of youngsters moving
c. Supervise and ‘approve’ ANY holiday photos your child uploads to his/her Face book profile/BBM profile etc. With so much free time, the camera becomes a huge boredom ‘combater’ - and what your child thinks is ‘innocent’ fun, could mean something completely different to an unbalanced person. Please ensure that your child ONLY sends holiday photos to close friends and family (Sending a holiday snap to EVERY person on his/her BB contact list, could lead to the photo being distributed at a rate of knots on the internet. There is of course, ALSO the threat of Geotagging – which we discussed in an earlier article.
d. Social networking sites will be the busiest they have been the entire year during this ‘holiday’ period – It is pretty hard for the sites themselves to monitor ALL the traffic and activity, SO: parents should take some responsibility in educating and informing their children of the possible dangers.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
If the thought of all this ‘holiday freedom’ strikes fear into your heart (as a parent) you are certainly not alone. Many parents are concerned about the length of time their children/teens will need to occupy themselves with something other than school, homework and extra-mural activities.
Many parents will also be concerned about their children’s cell phone habits during the silly season. These very legitimate concerns could include:
a. The additional time available for cell phone usage, and NO enforced periods of cell phone ‘isolation’ when the child is at school.
b. Soaring airtime costs due to increased usage.
c. Adequate supervision of what the child is accessing via cell phone.
d. The influence of the child’s friends and other people on the child with regard to cell phone content, internet browsing and social networking.
e. An increase in cyber bullying(possibly affecting your child); due to all the free time children will have available and the chronic boredom that ALWAYS accompanies ‘lengthy periods of free time’.
THESE MIGHT ALL BE LEGITIMATE CONCERNS, BUT REMEMBER THAT DURING THIS HOLIDAY PERIOD, A CELL PHONE MIGHT SAVE A LIFE. WHEN USED RESPONSIBLY, YOUR CHILD’S CELL PHONE IS ESSENTIAL FOR HIS/HER SAFETY AND SECURITY!
At cellphonesafety.co.za, we are well aware of the VERY legitimate concerns many parents may have this time of the year, and will try to ‘ease’ the anguish with the tips, hints and advice below. Happy holidays, and a wonderful 2012 from everyone at www.cellphonesafety.co.za
1. SUPERVISION – KEEPING AN EYE ON YOUR CHILD’S CELL PHONE “FESTIVITIES”:
a. Do NOT increase your child’s airtime budget too much during the holidays – a little extra airtime is fine, but TOO much of an increase will ensure that your child spends the entire holiday GLUED to his/her phone.
b. Read our section on blocking adult sites, and contact your child’s cell phone service provider in order to activate this function – BOREDOM and free time are the primary reasons minors visit adult sites!
c. Insist on ‘cell phone’ free time during the holidays – whether at home or away. Children should NOT be allowed to use their cell phones 24/7 regardless of the fact that ‘holidays’ are in full swing. Ensure that your child spends time communicating with the family and NOT just with strangers and friends via cell phone. The extended period of ‘free time’ your child now has, COULD increase your child’s dependence on his/her cell phone, leading to possible addiction.
d. Ensure that any friends visiting your child are AWARE of the cell phone rules in your home (whether you are there to supervise or not).
e. If you have younger children at home, who are being ‘cared for’ by your older children whilst you work – PLEASE ensure that your older child does NOT visit illicit and explicit sites on home PC’s or cell phones during this time. It might be hard to monitor , BUT: you can tell the older child, that you will be ‘sweeping’ and ‘checking’ a recorded list of all websites visited on a regular basis throughout the holidays.
f. Ensure that your internet protection (your key to preventing your child from accessing sites he/she should not be) is activated and up to date (Net Nanny Etc). An OPEN internet is an invitation to hours and hours of ‘curious’ web surfing – often with undesirable results. This is also a good time to change any passwords required to activate/deactivate above mentioned protection (Chances are your child has already worked out what your current password is, and will be able to bypass the protection) – If you don’t want your child accessing the home computer at ALL unsupervised – change your access passwords.
g. Watch out for any increase in ‘bandwidth’ use – chances are your child has been ‘downloading’ on a free ticket.
h. Ensure that your children are once more, made AWARE of the consequences (punishment) should they break your ‘rules’ – Keep reminding them throughout the holidays, and when necessary dish out the punishment. 2 Days without a cell phone is akin to 2 days in hell for a teenager especially.
i. No need to be paranoid – just keep the channels of communication open, and talk to your child.
j. MOST IMPORTANTLY: ensure that the adults in the household set an ‘example’ with regard to responsible cell phone/internet use during the holidays. You can’t expect your child to obey a parent who is STUCK to a cell phone for the entire vacation. You can’t expect a child to obey a parent who spends 10 hours a day chatting on BB Messenger. You can’t expect a child to obey a parent who spends hours surfing adult websites in full view of the child. Keep it balanced!
2. GENERAL SAFETY:
a. When large numbers of people are on holiday/leave simultaneously, the pool of potential predators also increases. These unsavoury folk ALSO find themselves with more time on their hands, which translates to more time ‘surfing social networking sites’ and hunting their online prey. Give your children repeated warnings during the festive season about online contacts, strangers and persons approaching them online. Re-visit our articleabout online predators: Wolf in sheep’s clothing.
b. The festive season is also a time when peer pressure springs to the fore, groups of youngsters moving
c. Supervise and ‘approve’ ANY holiday photos your child uploads to his/her Face book profile/BBM profile etc. With so much free time, the camera becomes a huge boredom ‘combater’ - and what your child thinks is ‘innocent’ fun, could mean something completely different to an unbalanced person. Please ensure that your child ONLY sends holiday photos to close friends and family (Sending a holiday snap to EVERY person on his/her BB contact list, could lead to the photo being distributed at a rate of knots on the internet. There is of course, ALSO the threat of Geotagging – which we discussed in an earlier article.
d. Social networking sites will be the busiest they have been the entire year during this ‘holiday’ period – It is pretty hard for the sites themselves to monitor ALL the traffic and activity, SO: parents should take some responsibility in educating and informing their children of the possible dangers.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!