Supervision of your kids is the key to their protection because they don’t understand the danger. They want to explore new things because they have a curious nature. We all take kids safety very seriously whether we are at home or on an outing.
It is necessary to teach children about their safety and protection because it is an important task to keep children safe. As protection and care are required for a toddler, a teenager needs the same care if you want to protect him/her from harmful activities.
Mostly bad peers come up with new and innovative ideas that can fascinate your child. These years are wonderful and full of fun. Your daughter or son is on the threshold of adulthood, but he/she still a child in many ways. In this age, many elements of your children life are out of control, but still, you can do many things to keep them safe.
1. Internet Safety
In this dynamic world, youngster uses the internet in all spheres of life. Many of them go to the internet to shop, chat with friends, research purposes, check emails, or for entertainment. Although many people use the internet for good intentions, it also provides some illegal stuff for our children. Parents should be vigilant and aware.
Today every good and bad person use the internet, our children can be exposed to a wide range of people. Some can be good and some harmful to them. They can exploit our teenagers. Youngsters are at risk because they use it without any observation. Teens are more likely to participate in bulletin boards and chat rooms. They can increase exposure to inappropriate material, harassment, and sexual exploitation.
Suggestions
- Keep the computer in the TV lounge
- Install internet filtering software
- Visit the sites that teens used to visit
- Don’t give personal information
2. Use a tracking App
If you find that your son/daughter is hiding something from you or spending more time out, then it’s time to spy. Teenagers need more care and supervision. As we have noticed many times when parents scold their children, they take it to their ego. They stop sharing their daily affairs with parents, and this is when parents need to spy on them. Otherwise, you’ll never get to know what they are doing.
To keep a check on the children’s activities, you can use phone tracker. In this way, you’ll be able to trace where your son or daughter spend time.
3. Personal Safety Discussion
Once when your child is out of sight, everything he does is out of your control. You can teach him his moral values and tell him about his boundaries. Remind him few basic personal safety rules including
- Never accept something from any stranger
- Don’t drink alcohol or use drugs
- Follow the standards and laws of the country
- Don’t share your personal information on social media
4. Avoid In-Person Meetings with Strangers
Tell your daughter that the only way someone can physically harm her is if she’ll meet him in person. If she really wants to get together with a person she met online, then don’t go alone. Tell her to meet in public place, inform someone about the meeting and location, and bring some friends along.
5. Profile Information and Photos
Tell your adults that the information which they share on the internet can make trouble for them. In these days, numbers of cases are registered that show girls are being harassed and blackmailed due to their shared information and pictures on their social media.
Ask them it’s not necessary to put all the photos and private information on social media to grab the attention of others. They should think about their protection first.
6. Teach Your Child to Protect Passwords
Teach your teens that they don’t share their social media account passwords with anyone, even not with any close friend. Ask them to choose a strong password, which is not easy to guess. Their password should not base on their name, siblings name, date of birth, or any favorite food or place. Let them construct a password that meets the following criteria:
- Lowercase and uppercase letters
- More than eight characters
- Unique character like %, @, #, _? Or /
7. Introduce them with Cyberbullying
Spend some time with your teen and talk with him/her about the use of inappropriate language, ask them that they don’t share their anything personal on their social accounts, discourage conversation and stress that they would not share in person. Encourage your child to discuss with you if they are being bullied. Also, encourage them to file a report against cyberbullying report.
8. Set Some Limits
Tell your child to set some ground rules such as:
- Don’t accept friend requests from strangers
- Don’t meet strangers in person
- Keep your social media account limited