Take Charge! - Smart Choices for Your Cox Digital Home

Information provided by Cox’s Security Software partner McAfee

Talking to your tween-ager

Youngsters between the ages of eight and twelve are far more sophisticated than children in that age range used to be. The term “tween” was coined to accurately reflect this population of kids who are no longer considered “young” but are not yet teenagers. Understand that tweens are quite comfortable using a computer, having grown up with one at home and/or at school.

Before you speak to tweens, you need to make some decisions so that you can create boundaries surrounding their Internet use. In order to clearly communicate what the rules are, you need to first define them. To help keep your tween safe, you need to know the answers to the following questions:

• Is the computer in a public area of the home?


• What web sites are safe for your tween to visit?


• How long should their online sessions be?


• What can they do while they are online?


• Who are they allowed to interact with?


• If you are not going to monitor your tweens, when should they seek your help and approval?

Once you know the answers to the above questions, you can proceed with the talk.With the computer turned off, so that you have their undivided attention, you should explain to your tween-ager that a computer is a tool and that it’s important to be safe online.

Be sure to cover the following points:

• Discuss viruses, spyware, and hackers


• Discuss how child predators like to lure kids into talking about themselves


• Explain why it’s important to be safe online because the computer can be an open door to your important personal information


• Discuss how identity theft occurs


• Discuss the fact that you or a computer expert (if you’re not one) can track every single thing that is done on your computer


• Talk about how criminals can take control of your PC and break it, so that you have to buy a new one

Ask for assistance if something upsetting occurs online

Stress to your tweens that they need to tell you if they receive any odd or upsetting messages while chatting and that you will not be angry with them or ban them from using the Internet as a result. Make it clear to the child that you understand that they cannot control what other people say to them and that they are not to blame if this happens.

Also, be sure that your tween is not being bullied or bullying other children online. When school children leave campus, they don’t necessarily leave their classmates and their conflicts behind. Using computers, text pagers, and cell phones, students can be in touch with each other at all times and they may abuse this technology to pester, bully, and harm others.

How to block users and how to report problems

You can save sessions by copying and pasting the text message into a word processing program. Most chat programs allow you to block a user by right clicking on their name in your contact list and choosing the “Block” or “Ignore” feature. If your child has an online incident with the individual, send the copied log to the chat room moderator or administrator. You can find the contact information in the help or reporting section of the program.