Before going further...please note, the Internet offers us many, many positive and wonderful things! It is changing almost every aspect of life today. Though it offers a positive side, this page is provided to help educate ourselves and our children on some of the items that might be on the negative or dangerous side of things.

Potentially helpful links:

• Pledges
  • http://www.safekids.com/contract_kid.htm
  • http://www.safekids.com/contract_parent.htm

• 4Kids.org
  
  
• 5 tech secrets parents need to know -- 9/26/08, from MSNBC.com, by Helen Popkin
  
  
• How do I help my child learn to use the Internet wisely? -- 8/13/08, from The Innovative Educator
  
  
• Parents. The Anti-Drug.
  
  
  • Parents. The Anti-Drug. — E-Monitoring
    A crash course for parents on teens and technology
• Digital Technology 101 for Parents. The Anti-Drug. — E-Monitoring
  Social networking, cell phones, IM and more for parents
• Internet Lingo
  
• Social Networking Sites
• Monitoring Tools
• Many Web sites offer guidance and advice on how to monitor your teen in the Digital Age. While TheAntiDrug.com provides basic steps on how to monitor certain technologies, other sites offer more specific details. Here is a list of credible, user-friendly sites that can provide you with more information.
  
  
  
  
• Michigan Family Forum's Guide to Internet Safety (2007)
  The Internet is amazingly powerful. Yet like the other types of media out there, it has its strengths and weaknesses...its good and bad sides. So while the Internet can be beneficial, it can also be the Wild Wild West. This booklet -- The Family Guide to Internet Safety -- from the Michigan Family Forum might help you protect your youth from some of the pitfalls of being online. It discusses some potential risks of kids being online that parents need to know about and offers some steps you can take to educate your kids about these things.
  
  
  
• Kids Keep Parents in the Dark About Cyberbullying -- from All Things Digital
  
  
• From CyberSmart!
  
  
  • Letters to Families are appropriate for any grade level, and provide teachers with a simple way to encourage parental support and involvement.
  • Printable Poster Internet Safety for Elementary Students (PDF)
  • Printable Poster Top Ten Cyber Security Tips for Teens, Their Teachers and Families (PDF)
  • Social Networking: Questions, Answers, and Lessons
    to spark a conversation with teens. Plus selected lessons from the non-sequential CyberSmart Curriculum. Lesson plans and student activity sheets.
  • Online Safety – “Supervising Cyberspace”
    
  • Online Safety – “Suited up for Cyberspace”
    
  • Be CyberSmart! – “2 Thrive in the 21st Century”
    Issue Discussion: What are the attributes for success in the 21st Century and how can we apply them to educating students today?
    
    
    
• WiredSafety.org
  WiredSafety.org is the world's largest Internet safety, help and education organization. It includes a helpful index of safety topics for teachers.
  
  
  
• Mitigating the Internet's Negative Consequences -- from The Journal.com
  For the last 11 years Marje Monroe and Doug Fodeman have worked to educate schools, parents and students about the issues that affect children in an online world. Their Web site, ChildrenOnline.org, offers practical articles, resources, research, and a monthly newsletter on the topic. Recently, the team, which has a long background in education, self-published Safe Practices for Life Online, intended to show middle and high school students what scams target them and how to use the Internet more safely. A teacher's edition of the book will be available through the International Society for Technology in Education in November. In August, they'll self-publish a third guide, intended to help parents set appropriate limits around technology use and talk to their teens about how to protect their privacy online.
  
  
• Media Awareness Network -- for Parents (though they have for Teachers section as well)
  
  
• How do I help my child learn to use the Internet wisely? -- from "The Innovative Educator" blog (8/13/08)
  
  
• Cyberbully Pledge for Teachers
  
  
• Parents Guide to Social Networks
  
  
• Connect Safely
  
  
• Digizen: Digital Citizenship
  
  
• Yahoo! Safely
  
  
• Study Debunks Sexual Predator Myths
  
  
• BJ Fogg on Web Credibility
  
  
• eSchool News: Online Safety Myths
  
  
• Digital Safety -- from Cable in the Classroom

Again, these are not meant to say Christians should not use the Internet! Far from it! We just want you to be aware of some challenges out there.

Here's an article that you might want to read as well:
Internet not the child-devouring swamp many adults fear

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