Growing Together: Plugging In to
Your Child's Digital World
Rendell Bradley, MS
Program Analyst, Adolescent Team
Nemours Health & Prevention Services
At what age should my child start using social
media?
 According to Consumer
Reports an estimated 7.5
million pre-teens –including
5 million under the age of 10
are on a social network sites
like Facebook
Up to age 10
 It's never too early to foster open and positive
communication with children. It's a good idea to talk
with them about computers and to stay open to their
questions and curiosity.
 Always sit with your kids at this age when they're
online.
 Set clear rules for Internet use.
 Insist that your children not share personal information
such as their real name, address, phone number, or
passwords with people they meet online.
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/childsafety-age.aspx
Up to age 10
 Use family safety tools to create appropriate profiles for
each family member and to help filter the Internet.
 For more information, see Windows Live Family Safety,
Windows 7 Parental Controls, or Windows Vista Parental
Controls.
 Help protect your children from offensive pop-up windows
by using the pop-up blocker that's built in to Internet
Explorer.
 All family members should act as role models for young
children who are just starting to use the Internet.
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/childsafety-age.aspx
Start a Conversation with Your Teen
 Do you feel like you can tell me if you ever have a
problem at school or online?
 Help me understand why Facebook is important to
you.
 Can you help me set up a Facebook profile?
 Who are your friends on Facebook?
 I want to be your friend on Facebook. Would that
be OK with you? What would make it OK?
Source: http://www.facebook.com/safety/
Ages 11 to 14
 It's a good idea to foster open and positive
communication with your children. Talk with them
about computers and stay open to their questions and
curiosity. (i.e. chat rooms & online predators)
 Set clear rules for Internet use.
 Insist that your children not share personal information
(i.e. real name, address, phone number, or
passwords) with people they meet online.
 Help your kids create online nicknames that give away
no personal information.
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/childsafety-age.aspx
Ages 11 to 14
 Use family safety tools to help filter the Internet.
 Keep Internet-connected computers in an open area
where you can easily supervise your kids' activities.
 Help protect your children from offensive pop-up
windows by using the pop-up blocker that's built in to
Internet Explorer.
 Encourage your children to tell you if something or
someone online makes them feel uncomfortable or
threatened.
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/childsafety-age.aspx
Ages 15 to 18
 Create a list of Internet house rules as a family.
Establish guidelines for communicating with others
online, including social networking.
 Know which websites your teens visit, and whom they
talk to. Insist they stay in public chat room area.
 Insist that they never agree to meet an online friend.
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/childsafety-age.aspx
Ages 15 to 18
 Talk to your teenagers about online adult content and
pornography, and direct them to positive sites about
health and sexuality. (i.e. Sexting)
 Make sure your kids are not visiting sites with
offensive content, or posting personal information. Be
aware of the photos that teens post of themselves and
their friends.
 Teach your kids responsible, ethical, online behavior.
They should not be using the Internet to spread
gossip, bully, or threaten others. (i.e. Cyber Bullying )
Source: http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/childsafety-age.aspx
Source: www.safetyweb.com
Drawing by Laura Reyome
Source: www.cooggno.com
Source: www.cooggno.com
Source: www.cooggno.com
Texting While Driving

About 6,000 deaths and a half a million
injuries are caused by distracted drivers
every year.

Talking on a cell phone while driving can
make a young driver’s reaction time as slow
as that of a 70-year-old.

Answering a text takes away your attention
for about five seconds. That is enough time
to travel the length of a football field
Photo by :Chris Usher for TIME
Source: http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cell-phone/statistics.html
 Two-thirds of teens who have witnessed online
cruelty have also witnessed others joining in – and
21% say they have also joined in the harassment.
 88% of social media-using teens have witnessed
other people be mean or cruel on social network
sites.
 19% of teens have been bullied in the past year in
some form – either in person, online, by text, or by
phone.
Source: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Teens-and-social-media/Summary/Majority-of-teens.aspx
Source: www.safetyweb.com
1. Group your Friends List
2. Remove Yourself From Facebook Search Results
3. Remove Yourself From Google
4. Avoid the Infamous Photo/Video Tag Mistake
5. Protect Your Albums
Source: www.safetyweb.com
6. Prevent Stories From Showing Up in Your Friends’
News Feeds
7. Protect Against Published Application Stories
8. Make Your Contact Information Private
9. Avoid Embarrassing Wall Posts
10. Keep Your Friendships Private
Source: www.safetyweb.com
http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf
Ensure your child avoids announcing his/her location via
status updates of GPS-enabled applications.
http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf
Parenting Tips
 Consider creating your own account on Facebook so
you can “friend” your child. That’s probably the best
“monitoring tool” you could use.
 You can establish a family rule that says something
like, “No one can block other family members from
content any of us posts on Facebook.”
 With your child, go over their friends list. Make sure
your child hasn’t accepted any friend requests from
total strangers.
Source: www.safetyweb.com
Parenting Tips
 Install a reliable Internet filter and enable parental
controls where available.
 Talk to your child about Internet safety and appropriate
vs. inappropriate online behavior.
 Stay calm
Parenting Tips
Monitor your child, their access to electronic communications and their
activities online. An Internet monitoring software can help you with this.
Source: www.WebWatcher.com
Parenting Tips
 Be wary of identifiable information in your child’s
profile. (i.e. school mascot & name of town where they
live in)
 Google your child’s name. Set up a Google alert to
notify you every time your child’s name appears in a
blog post or online comment anywhere on the Internet.
Visit Google.com/alerts and enter your child’s name as
a search term to begin.
Source: www.safetyweb.com
Parenting Tips
 Check your child’s privacy settings. Limit the amount
of people who can see photographs and other
personal information. Every time your teenager ends a
relationship, make sure the privacy settings are
checked again.
Source: www.safetyweb.com
Parent Resources
 A Parent’s Guide to Facebook
http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf
 Quest to Learn -School for Digital Kids
http://q2l.org/pdfs/Q2L_online_safety_resources.pdf
 Recommended Facebook Privacy Setting for Teens
http://www.connectsafely.org/Safety-Advice-Articles/facebook-privacychart-for-teens.html
 NannyNet.com http://www.netnanny.com/
 McAfee Safe Eyes www.SafeEyes.com
 Web Watcher 7
http://www.webwatchernow.com/ww/index_sp_keylogger_buynew.html?
gclid=CJ2Tmbqer64CFQnd4AodSEm2Sw
 DriveSafe.ly www.DriveSafe.ly
 Phone Guard http://phoneguard.com/default.aspx
Thank you
Rendell Bradley, MS
Email: rbradley@nemours.org
Phone: 302-444-9157