There are many websites that provide kids games online , but one hears frequently about children who have encountered unpleasant experiences on the internet. One thing that all parents and most other people are very concerned about is keeping kids safe online, and indeed there are many very safe websites that provide online games for kids , but knowing how to find these is not always obvious, so here are a few tips that should help conscientious parents select the websites which they are happy for their kids to visit.
The first thing you should do is talk to your children about the potential dangers that lurk on the internet. There is no need to worry about doing this; it is no different from warning your children about the dangers of taking sweets from strangers, a danger that children have been warned about for generations before the internet was invented.
You should then get them to agree to never visit any website that you have not approved. There are two ways of doing this. The first way is trust, and this is always the best way. Let them know that you expect them to live up to their promises and that you trust them to do so. The other way is to use blocking software that allows access only to pre-specified websites, however that can seem a little too heavy handed and it is not necessarily one hundred percent reliable anyway. Ultimately the way you choose depends on the kids and your relationship with them.
Whilst spending time on the web is educational and fun for kids, spending too much time can distract them from other activities such as school work and physical activities and games. Just as you should set limits to the amount of time they spend watching television, you should limit the amount of time they spend online. Again you can call on trust that they will stick to the agreed online time limit, or you can use software that logs them off once the allotted time has been exceeded.
If you have an unpleasant feeling about any potential website, then it is best to trust your parenting instincts and exclude it from your list of approved sites.
Always read the “about us” or similar pages of a website and exclude any website that does not have impeccable credentials. If a site does not include a site description that explains its purposes and goals, then exclude it from your list.
Social networking sites, chat rooms and blogging sites need particular scrutiny. Even those that are aimed specifically at children can attract predatory behaviours and cyber bullying. Although some parents prefer to disallow access to these kinds of sites, by doing so they are excluding their children from acquiring the kind of online skills that nowadays are an important part of everyday life. Many of these sites are fine and well controlled and policed. You should check out their policies and how they prevent access by undesirable people and only when you are happy with these should you add the site to your list of permitted sites.