As a parent, you have a responsibility to your child. Part of that responsibility is to keep them safe and teach them how to protect themselves on a computer. Using the internet can be fun and safe for your child if you take a few steps.
Young children are very curious by nature. They like to seek things out and explore. On the internet this could open the door to many dangerous areas. As a parent, take the initiative to install parental controls. This will keep your child out of high danger zones.
Teach your child how to make and protect their password. Tell them that passwords are private and not to be shared with anyone but mom and dad, not even their best friend. Make sure to teach them to use numbers as well as letters, these passwords are harder to hack.
Remind them that we should NEVER talk to strangers. This includes anyone unknown in chat rooms, AIM or Facebook. Adults sometimes pretend they are kids, while in truth they are trying to locate a victim. Predators are out there and they have the same access as you do to the internet. Teach your child to be safe, but do not scare them.
Teach your children to never give private information out on the internet. This includes address, phone number or cell number. Also, make sure that they are not posting information about vacations or time away from home. Thieves have been known to access this info and burglarize a home.
Make sure that your child also knows never to open an e-mail from an unknown address. Have the child check with you if such e-mails arrive. These have been known to carry viruses and trojans which will create chaos on your computer.
With a little help and some guidelines your child can saftely use the internet.