Cyber+Safety

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[|Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative]

[|NetSmartz411]

To keep children safe online
 * Become a friend on your child’s social-networking page or blog.
 * Talk with your child about what you expect to see regarding their online pictures (if they are allowed to post any and what they are “saying” with their posted images), their typed comments and their “netiquette” (online behavior) and the people they invite to be their friends.
 * Teach your children to not post personal information about themselves, such as their names, hometowns, school teams or churches, and how not to inadvertently post such personal information on their friends.
 * Help your child set up the account, to monitor what information they present about themselves. If desired and possible, mark the settings as “private,” which limits who can access your child’s page.
 * Check the history of the sites your child has visited. The Michigan attorney general’s Cyber Safety Initiative offers help on learning to do this.
 * Teach your children to tell a trusted adult when something they’ve read or seen online makes them feel uncomfortable.
 * If necessary, request that their online privileges be temporarily suspended at your public library.
 * Equip yourself with what you need to know by consulting such sources as the Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative (www.michigan.gov/csi) and NetSmartz411 (www.netsmartz411.com), established by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. These sites give detailed information on how to safely establish a social-networking account and to monitor such sites.
 * Attend a workshop on children’s online safety.