Chat rooms have long been a favourite pass-time on the internet for kids, they can be great fun and they can make some great new friends online, the problem with chat rooms is they are generally anonymous so the person they are chatting to may not be who they say they are.
Unless you supervise your children whenever they are in a chat room then controlling who they chat too can be a problem, although, there are some general guidelines that your children can follow to make their online chatting safer:
- Stay anonymous, they should use a nickname while online, and never reveal their real name.
- Never tell anyone where they live, not even if they have been chatting to the person for years.
- Never tell anyone what school they go to.
- Never give out phone numbers.
- Never agree to meet someone without a parent present, and ensure the person they are going to meet knows a parent will be accompanying them.
- Tell an adult if anything strange happens or anything is said to them that makes them feel uncomfortable.
- Introduce yourself in the chat room to their online friends, especially if your child wants to meet them.
Although these guidelines may seem fairly obvious, by ensuring that your children follow them they can help remove some of the dangers.
No comments:
Post a Comment