Parents and Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites have become a craze in today’s generation. There are hundreds social networking sites on the net and their numbers are increasing day by day and are very popular among today’s kids. Even if you ask your kid you will find that he /she is also a member of these sites maybe of one maybe of many. But being a guardian it is very important for you to give correct guidance to your child  as far as navigating through these sites are concerned so that you wont find your child becoming a victim to pedophiles or any other such threats.

This is the reason why the parents should make their kids know exactly that what type of information they can share on these sites and what information they should keep private. Your exact address, or your security social number or your phone numbers are such information that they are going go share with anyone through these social sites.

For being a member on these sites there is need for giving their name. Make them give a false name not real name while becoming the member. In fact these social sites also have the privacy options which help it’s member to give only that information that they want to share with others. Make your child activate this setting and teach them how to use it. This way you will be sure that your child is not divulging anything more than what is required.

Guiding your child and giving instruction to your child is good but doesn’t spoon feed him. Let your child use his own brain and judge what information they want to give on their social sites profile. It is very important for them to be comfortable with what ever they are putting up on their profile as their profile will be accessed by their teachers, friends, their employers or even college admission officers.

If you think that you don’t have laptop or desktop therefore you need not to worry about your child. Then you are very wrong. These days technology has advanced so much that it is possible to log in to these social sites through mobile phones also. In order to restrict your child’s time that he spends on these sites you should go for such mobile phone for your kid which does not offers any such facility. Go for such sets through which only call and SMS is possible but not net surfing.

One of the other problems that today’s kids suffer through these social sites is getting threatening calls on their mobile or in their inbox. Few years back bullying was only restricted to the school but now it has spread its wing to the cyber world also. There are instances of kids taking their own lives after receiving such threatening calls or email. Therefore being a parent it is very important for you to monitor your kids.

The best way to keep a tab on your kid’s movement  is to be very friendly with them. Communicating with your kids as much as you can is very good. If they are very friendly with you and if they face any type of problems then they will be able to share it with you. Then you can guide them easily that what steps they should take such as deleting his account from that social networking site and opening account on any other site. By doing this they will be extra careful in the future while accepting any friend request and in making their future decisions.

Always make yourself answer all the queries of your child related to sex so that they will not have wrong ideas through unknown persons on the net. This may lead them towards unsocial activities. Therefore hearing from you about sex is better than hearing it from strangers.

Never ever hesitate to go to police if your child is feeling threatened by someone. Also report about that person the social networking site so that the said site will be able to take action and ban the person.

You can also keep watch on your child’s movement by searching for their name through blog sites and search engines. But if you don’t find anything posted there then that means you need not to worry about your child’s safety.

It is true that keeping track of your child’s movement through out the day is not possible but we, being parents can guide them till they are mature enough to handle all sorts of situation of their life.

As far as these social networking sites are concerned they have privacy settings but all you need to know is the way to use it for the safety of your child.

Secure your kids.