The Parenting Center

Basic Overview of Net Nanny

As a parent you want to do whatever you can to protect your children. You cannot be everywhere with your children, although you wish you could, to protect them and keep them safe from harm. This includes protecting them while they are online. Even though you cannot be with your child physically all of the time, you can be aware of what they are doing while they are online and keep tabs on their online activities. There is software available to help you do this along with providing you with parental controls to limit your child’s access to harmful internet content.

One of these software programs, in fact the most popular one, is Net Nanny. In fact, Net Nanny 6.0 has received the Gold award from TopTenREVIEWS for “best internet filter software” for five years in a row. It was also names as “editor’s choice” in PC Magazine.

Net Nanny is an internet filter system that allows you, as the parent, to control the content that enters your home. It not only blocks pornography, but it also blocks other questionable websites, questionable chat rooms, and other internet dangers. You can set it to block online gambling websites or gaming sites.

The control you have with the Net Nanny can also allow you to block your child’s ability to upload information or images on the internet and can even block your child’s ability to post on forums and blogs.

One of the features many people like about the Net Nanny is its remote management abilities. When you are away from home you still have the ability to monitor and control parental settings. Another feature that is popular with the Net Nanny is that it alerts parents of potential predators, cyberbullying, or other inappropriate behavior through online chats or other instant messaging program.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Child Development, Net Nanny

Protecting Your Child From Predators

Unfortunately in the world today there are predators lurking everywhere! They may be at the mall, at the movie theater, next door, or on the internet. You cannot be everywhere with your child all the time, but you can teach your child about things that she can do to protect herself.

At the mall or other crowded places, ensure that your child is never there alone. Discuss with your child the dangers of associating with anyone they do not know. Talk about never going anywhere with anyone they do not know personally. Meeting someone with a group of friends that day does not count as “knowing” them personally. Remind her to be aware of who she is around and who is watching her. If she ever feels uncomfortable in a situation, trust her instincts and get out of there!

Keeping your child protected in your own neighborhood is a little more difficult. Be aware of who lives in your neighborhood and if there are any registered sex offenders. Teach your children about being aware of their surroundings and let you know if anyone makes them uncomfortable.

On the internet it is a little more difficult to protect your children from predators. Internet predators are very sneaky and are able to stay hidden and anonymous. Discuss appropriate internet activities with your child. It is advisable to install parental controls and internet security software on your computer to monitor and control internet activities. This will give your child an added level of safety. However, you cannot control what your child does away from home. Therefore, it is important to talk to your child about internet safety, the dangers of internet predators, and things to watch out for.

Filed Under: Child Development Tagged With: Child Development, Internet safety

Keeping Your Child Safe in a Crowd

Taking a young child into a crowded area may cause you some anxiety and stress. It is best to avoid taking your young child into crowded areas if possible. However, if it is unavoidable there are several things you can do to ensure your child’s safety and your sanity.

First and foremost be honest with your child about safety. It may surprise you how much a 2-year-old can understand. You do not want to scare your child, but your child must understand that there are bad people in this world that might want to hurt them. Stress to your child about the importance of staying as close to mommy and daddy as possible and never, ever going anywhere with anyone they do not know.

Be prepared. Take a quick picture of your little one before you ever get to your destination. If the unthinkable happens and your child does come up missing you will most likely be too worried and stressed to remember what your child was wearing. Having a picture taken just before your outing will give you a quick reminder and a visual for security or police to help find your child.

Whenever possible dress your child in very bright clothing or something that will stand out if your child wanders away from you. If you have more than one child or you are with a group let’s say somewhere like Disneyland, it may be beneficial for everyone to dress alike. This helps you to quickly identify your group and find any wanderers faster.

Using a leash type of restraint device on very young children or keeping them in a stroller whenever you are going to be in a crowded area will help you keep track of your child better and provide your child with security.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: Child Development, Disneyland

Ways to Protect Your Child-Used Family Computer

There are many paths to security risks and performance slow-downs for your computer. When you begin to let your child use the machine, you may notice even more issues. In this case, it is even more necessary to protect the family computer, and there are many programs out there that can safeguard the computer system and make sure that it keeps working at top performance. One of these is PC Tools Registry Software, which will fix any Windows Registry errors that occur, even when you or your child do not realize registry changes have taken place.

Registry issues are among some of the top problems that cause computers to slow down. It is unwise not to protect your computer in any case, let alone when your child is using it. Before you let your kid sit down and command the computer, registry software isn’t the only thing you should think about. There are various parental control programs that will allow you to set times during which your child can use the Internet, or launch certain programs. Parents can even define who a child can email, and also receive a copy of each email that is sent or received by using similar software.

Special software can even limit Web surfing to age appropriate material, based on how old your child is. These kinds of programs are important, as is PC Tools Registry Software, but you also need to consider anti-virus software. Even if parental controls are in place, as well as porn filters, viruses and other malware can infiltrate and you might not even be aware of it. You can’t expect a child to know the signs of a computer virus and alert you in time, but anti-virus programs, combined with everything else, will keep your child-friendly computer safe and let your kid grow their computer skills as well.

Filed Under: Budget, Child Development Tagged With: antivirus, Windows Registry, World Wide Web

Teach Your Child About Internet Safety

Teaching children about online safety can sometimes be very difficult. There is so much to learn and to remember. When your children are younger it is much easier to protect them and help them learn about ways to stay safe online. However, as your child ages, and especially if they were not exposed to safety protocols online when they were very young, it can become more difficult to help them understand the importance of online safety. Teenagers are especially difficult to teach, as they feel they are immune to the problems that “happen to other people” on the internet.

Even though it may be difficult to get your child or teen to understand, as a responsible parent you need to do your part to give your child the proper “tools” to keep them safe while they are online. Go over your rules of internet use and follow through on consequences when they are not followed. Check up on your children regularly. Giving your child rules and then handing over the use of the internet without ever checking to ensure that your rules are being followed is not effective.

Some of the basic rules can include never adding anyone to their “friends” lists who they do not personally know on their online social network pages. Stay out of chat pages that include strangers. Never put any personal information online such as addresses, phone numbers, etc. Never post pictures that you do not want strangers to see. It is important to help your children understand that anything that is posted on the internet can be accessed by hackers or computer savvy individuals. Once it has been sent out into cyberspace, it can be picked up by anyone. Even if something is deleted later, there is an electronic copy of it somewhere.

Filed Under: Child Development, Parenting Tagged With: Child Safety, Internet safety

Learning CPR to Help Your Family in an Emergency

Learning CPR is very important for everyone, especially if you are a parent. Canada 411 is a useful tool for researching CPR and first aid classes in Canada. Learning how to administer CPR and first aid will help to keep your children safe and keep you from panicking in an emergency. If something ever happens to your child, with CPR training behind you, you’ll know exactly what to do.

The Importance of Learning CPR

One of the scariest things that can happen to a parent is to witness her child unable to breathe. This can occur as a result of a variety of accidents, such as choking, inhaling smoke, nearly drowning or suffocating. While you can’t control everything that your child does or is exposed to, when you know CPR, you can step in to help. When you perform CPR on a child, you are applying massage in the heart area and artificial breathing to help revive him. CPR helps to keep the blood circulating, restores breathing and can help to prevent brain damage or death.

Helping to Save People

While learning CPR may seem like one more thing to place on a list of things to do, it’s one of the more critical skills you can learn as a parent. You might also find yourself in an environment where other parents or their children are in need of CPR. When you know what to do, you can help to save lives.

Finding CPR Classes Using Canada 411

To find CPR and first aid classes near you in Canada, use Canada 411. Simply enter the keyword “CPR” and your location. You will see a list of organizations that offer such training. Narrow down your search by visiting the websites of the organizations. Check to see if they have classes you can attend after work or on the weekends.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, First aid

Is Your Child Addicted to the Internet

With all of the other things you have to worry about with your children, now you have to be concerned about your child becoming addicted to the internet. Internet addiction has become a rising problem in today’s society. According to experts one in eight Americans is addicted to the internet. Those numbers continue to rise especially in teens and young adults.

One thing that can possibly explain this is the fact that technology is addictive simply because of its ease of use and immediate feedback. Because of the fact that children are growing up with so much online interaction they become uncomfortable when they do not have it.

There are warning signs you can watch for to determine if your teen is becoming addicted to the internet and online gaming. Is your teen’s internet usage interfering with other daily activities? Does your teen some to family dinners late, miss sports practices, get to school late, or have stopped activities he used to enjoy because of his online usage? If you are noticing your teen being overly tired in the morning he may be staying up later than normal. Your teen may have difficulty completing homework or other assignments because he cannot focus long enough due to his need to log into the computer. When you try to cut back on your teen’s internet time, does he become angry and overly irritable? If your teen has lost interest in friends, spending time outdoors, sports, or other activities that he used to be interested in this could be another warning sign.

If you feel that your teen is becoming addicted it may be time to take action. If this is a mild addiction at this point you may be able to take steps to reverse this problem. Limit your teen’s time online to no more than one or two hours a day. Be an example and do not spend time that you should be with your family online. It may be necessary to install parental monitoring software to limit sites that are available and allow you to monitor online activities.

Filed Under: Child Development Tagged With: Internet access, Internet addiction disorder

Keeping Kids Safe This Winter

There are so many things for a parent to worry about when they send their children out of the house. Who may be out there that may try to take advantage of them? What trouble may they find to get into? Protecting children is the number one responsibility that a parent has, and that means insulating them from all risks including the most basic: the elements.

The East Coast is in the midst of what may go down in history as the worst winter ever. Cities like New York are seeing big storms dumping 6 to 12 inches of snow at a time, and that means kids need to be layered up to stay warm and safe. Rapper Shaun Jay-Z Carter grew up in Brooklyn and knows how harsh the New York winters can be. He designed his Rocawear clothing line with staying warm in mind.

Rocawear features well-insulated jackets that will help block out the cold and ward off the snow. The Puffer Jacket is perfect for bitterly cold weather and comes with a fur-lined hood. The Rocawear Wool Duffel Coat is popular, as well as several leather jackets that are great for cold weather, including one just like the coat Jay-Z wore in his Empire State of Mind video shoot.

To make sure the kids are protected in cold weather, it is important to make sure they have other winter accessories as well. Rocawear offers a full line of parachute and scottie boots that are excellent for traipsing through the snow and keeping your children’s feet warm. There are also hoodies and sweatshirts for layering underneath coats to provide an extra level of warmth. For young children, there are several jacket, tees, and jeans reasonably priced that are perfect for the kids to wear throughout the day at school.

Filed Under: Child Development, Parenting Tagged With: Child Development, Clothing, Rocawear

Protecting Your Child While Online

No matter what the age of your child you can take these simple steps to help protect your child while they are online.

Keep your computer in a public area of the house. Do not allow your child to have a computer in his room or in a private room. Having a computer out in the open makes it much more difficult for a child to enter websites that are questionable and makes them more accountable for who they are talking to, etc.
Set down rules for online activities. This can include the websites they are allowed to visit, the ones they are not allowed to visit, who they can be friends with online, situations they are to avoid, and even the amount of time they can spend online.
Enforce the rules you have set. It is not enough to simply set the rules. You must follow through on monitoring them and having consequences when they are broken. Sometimes a parent has to exercise some tough love to keep their children safe.
Monitor your child’s online activities. If the computer is in the open as suggested you can simply take note of what your child is doing as you walk by. Check browsing history frequently to note where your child has been online. Note anything suspicious, even if that happens to be an empty history when you know your child has been online. An empty history is a red flag that your child was possibly doing something online that they did not want you to be aware of and erased the history before you could check it.
Install parental controls and parental monitoring software. Using a program such as Net Nanny or WebWatcher can give you an added component of internet security and allows you as a parent to control the content, websites, and interactions that your child can have online. Many of these types of programs are now available for your child’s handheld devices such as iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. too.

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Child Development, Parental Control

Become Aware of Your Child’s Online Activities

With all of the technology in the world today there are many different social avenues for our children. It can be difficult to monitor everything our children are doing to keep them safe. Do you know what your child is doing when they are online? Do you know the websites he visits? How about the online friends he has? Any idea what social networks your child is visiting or how he is using them while he is online?

It is important that you become aware of your child’s online activities. The dangers to children online are real. Children are exposed to much more at a much younger age than in the past. It is very easy for predators and pedophiles to have access to your child online. Instances of cyberbullying is getting out of control. Through the online world your child may be dealing with harassment or your child might even be the one who is bullying or harassing. The “protection” of the online world seems to bring out the worst in some people.

Completely shutting your child away from the outside world is not the answer to protecting him. As a parent there are things you can do to help reduce the risks. It is your job as a parent to instruct your child. Teach your child about online dangers. Assure your child that you will be keeping track of their online activities. Let your child know that you love them and are just watching out for their safety. Discuss appropriate internet use, expectations, and consequences for improper use or any incident of your child participating in harassment or cyberbullying.

You need to be proactive in monitoring your child’s online behavior. This can be accomplished by frequently checking browsing histories, installing and using parental controls, installing an internet filter and/or a type of parental “spy” program. Your child may see this as an invasion of their privacy; you should see this as good parenting!

Filed Under: Child Development, Parenting Tagged With: Child Development, Parent