The Amazing Race: The Irony of Halloween

I decided to watch the most recent episode of The Amazing Race after a night of walking the neighborhood streets with my six-year-old in search of the house with the best candy.  The more I watched the show in hopes of finding an online safety, security, or privacy lesson, the more I was distracted by my son sitting on the carpet, still in full Halloween gear, sorting through his loot.  As I watched him, watched the show, and watched him again, it occurred to me the dramatic irony of Halloween.

Every day we try to teach our kids to navigate life safely, securely, conscious of how we impact others, and aware of the reputation that will precede us wherever we go.  We remind our kids not to take candy from strangers, to be truthful to who we are, to respect those around us, and to be honest about who we are.  I’ve written many articles in which I have tried to highlight what we must teach our kids about staying safe online.  We hope that our kids will understand that the Internet is like the real world – full of the good and the bad – and we hope they will live in the good, avoid the bad, and stay away from the scary.

Then comes Halloween.  We tell our kids to dress up like someone else and do it really well so no one can figure out who is behind the mask.  We then take them out into the world and ask them to ring the bell on houses filled with strangers and ask for candy.  And when they are too scared to go up to a house that is particularly scary, we tell them to suck it up and get up there, that it’s no big deal.  In fact, we feel as though we must push them forward into the scary situation that lies before them, despite what we might have learned about in articles like mine from last week.

And herein lies an opportunity to think about how similar what we do on Halloween is to what many parents will do or not do online.  It is easy to feel a sense of comfort when your child sits at home in front of a computer exploring the world.  They are at home after all.  The reality is that they are exploring the world and need all the guidance we can give them and that we provide to them daily in their offline lives…well, except on Halloween.

So next time your child goes online, ask yourself, “Are they going out trick or treating?”

So Many Kid Sites, So Little Time

Saying that there are a ton of sites for kids on the Internet is like saying there’s a lot of sand on the beach.  Sifting through all the sites out there to find the good and avoid the bad can be quite the daunting task especially with all the new sites popping up.  Should my kids play games online? Is there a safe place for them to explore the web? How secure are the sites that my kids are visiting?  There are so many questions and so many sites.

We decided to take stab are looking at some of the many sites out there to help you out.  Below are some of the sites we found that cater to kids between the ages of 4 and 13 or so and are worth taking a look at for a variety of reasons.

Togetherville.com: A social networking site for children that is monitored by parents.

  • Parents set up an account and “monitor” their children’s activities, including being in charge of who gets approved for a child’s neighborhood.
  • Lots of interactive games for kids of all skill levels, fun music.
  • Educational videos that are also entertaining.

ePals.com: Educational community bringing together learners from all over the planet.

  • Special areas for parents, families, students and teacher allow for dedicated and well-directed information.
  • Site has projects for classrooms and families, generating learning and a sense of global community.

ClubPenguin.com: Virtual world site that promotes global consciousness, charitable living and sharing.

  • Membership is limited and monitored, allowing for children to roam safely within the penguin world.
  • Interactions between members are promoted, especially in a socially conscious way that encourages children to share, learn to give, and be responsible.

Kids.NationalGeographic.com: Award winning site with vast resources that combine education and entertainment.

  • Specialized content ensures that kids get material that will work for them.
  • Videos, reading, pictures in an easy to navigate space.
  • Collection of fun activities to foster a child’s creativity and enhance their understanding of science.

Askkids.com: Search engine for children.

  • Provides a safe and entertaining way for children to surf the net.
  • All sites being searched by Ask Kids are acceptable for children of most ages.

PBSkids.org: Online version of PBS station for children.

  • Variety of interactive games and interesting videos for kids of various ages.
  • No external ads for kids to click on.

Nickjr.com: Online destination for fans of Nick Jr.

  • Colorful, bright and imaginative content from kids’ favorite characters.
  • Games and interactive areas for music, dance, parties and more.
  • Interactive “craft” area for kids allows them to create online works for art.

Girlscouts.org/forgirls: Branch of the Girl Scouts’ main site that provide age appropriate interactive material.

  • Girls only content increases self-esteem and community involvement
  • Interactive area that allows for girls to create their own works of art or color on pages already provided.

Kidscom.com:  Site for kids that offers safe chatting, safe networking, games, videos and more.

  • Parent monitored area for children to engage in chat rooms and social networking.
  • Exclusive interactive games with various themes and methods.

Thekidzpage.com: Free website with hundreds of resources for children

  • Online and printable coloring pages
  • Information about and activities for holidays and vacations

Disney.go.com: Games site from Disney

  • Kids get to play games based on their favorite Disney characters.
  • Trusted Disney name ensures safety and security for children browsing the site

Seussville.com: Site based on the venerated children’s books by Dr Seuss.

  • Creative and fun content.
  • Videos, books, story telling, game…all tested and kid safe.

Jumpstart.com: Online world with games and interactive action.

  • Children must login, thereby maintaining a safer environment
  • Parental controls and names given by the games make sure that personal information for kids isn’t getting out on the web.

Zoeysroom.com: Interactive website helping girls to learn about technology

  • Content developed especially for girls aged 10-14, helping them to learn math, science and technology.
  • Variety of videos and activities.

Of course, every child is different and not every site will work for every situation. Take the time to visit these sites with your kids using this list as an easy starting point.

For more information on safety, security, and privacy in the online world, check back here weekly or visit my blog.

Please, Just Tell Me What To Do!

The once colorful leaves have fallen off the trees; many have even blown away in the wind.  The Family Online Safety Institute’s annual conference that drew more than 450 participants from over 15 countries is a now a series of photographs and video clips lining our memories’ walls.

During the conference, I had the honor of sitting on a panel with leaders of Internet safety task forces from the past 15 years.  We all sat on the front stage holding our task force reports that together contained thousands of pages of information.  As I sat there, I once again realized the sheer volume of insight and knowledge that was in them and I thought of the circle we live in.  Everywhere we experts go, our knowledge goes there with us, gets passed around amongst us, and then we go home better informed, more educated, and more capable than ever before.

I also realized the sheer lack of information that was in the minds of many in our society who are struggling to embrace online safety, security, and privacy, and who are daily giving all of us online safety experts a simple call to action:

“Please, just tell me what to do!”

Now is the time to answer this cry for help that is getting louder with every news story, every tragic event, and every government investigation.

So let’s make it our collective call to action to start telling folks out there what to do.  We can all start by creating a few actions items either from these task force reports or from what we already know.

Here are just a few to get us started:

1. Set aside 30 minutes with your teen to have them show you how to create a Facebook page and then walk through each of the privacy settings with them (yes, each and every one of the settings).  You will both learn what they are, how to use them, and why they matter.

2. Put a question on the top of your teen’s computer screen that gently reminds them of the long term, far reaching, and considerable impact that hitting the ‘send’ or ‘enter’ button on their computer can have: “Would you want to be treated this way?”

3. Put a question at the bottom of your teen’s computer screen that gently reminds them of the permanent nature of information shared online: “Would you want to see this on the front page of the New York Times?”  Once information you choose to post is out there, anyone including college admissions officers and future employers can see it.

4. When your friends come over for dinner, ask them what they are doing about online safety, security, and privacy.  So many of us learn from our friends in every aspect of our lives.  This is no different.

Online safety is full of simple tasks we can all do.  Let’s join together to tell people what they are.