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As a parent or guardian, there are about a million things you have to worry about. These worries often concern the safety of your child. As the digital age continues to grow and becomes more and more a part of our everyday lives, keeping your kids safe online is no doubt at the top of that list.of worries In this post we’ll go over tips to keep your kids safe online, as well as an awesome service we found that is a great tool for keeping kids safe online.

Why Should We Be Concerned With Online Safety?

Kids are spending more and more time online: school assignments, online classes, social media, gaming, etc. While the online world provides a lot of benefits, there are also negatives that go along with being online. Scams, predators, cyberbullying, etc. are just some of the things we all need to lookout for. Kids can be exposed to text, voice, comments, graphics, videos or articles that are educational, beautiful and inspiring. They can also be exposed to things that are discouraging or depressing. Helping kids navigate the online world safely is a priority since they are spending more and more time there.

Keeping Kids Safe Online

At Coder Kids, we teach our students about digital citizenship and why it’s important, especially in our gaming camps and classes. We have found the website commonsense.org to be a valuable resource for teaching kids how to be safe online. In their curriculum, there are 6 topics that teach kids how to be safe, positive and have fun online:

• Media Balance and Well Being

  • This component goes over the fact that we shouldn’t be on screens all day, everyday. We need to find a healthy balance of online and offline activities to ensure our well being.

• Privacy and Security

  • This section goes over things like not using your real name, not giving out phone numbers or addresses, or any other personal information online. Kids shouldn’t give out any personal details or contact information through chats or private messaging.

• Digital Footprint and Identity

  • This component of digital citizenship teaches kids that the internet is a permanent database of everything we share. It’s not as anonymous as we might think. Online sharing can be dangerous now and in the future. Kids need to be selective about what they say, do or write online. The identity aspect refers to who we are when we’re online. While you can be anyone you want to be online, it’s most rewarding when we’re ourselves.

• Relationships and Communication

  • This section covers things like appropriate ways to communicate with others online, as well as appropriate relationships with others. Kids need to learn to use clean and clear communication online, and not insulting, hurtful or mean communication with others.

• Cyberbullying, Digital Drama and Hate Speech

  • Kids need to be taught that bullying online, in person or in any way is UNACCEPTABLE. In this component, kids learn to take an active role in promoting positivity online, stopping situations before they escalate, helping those who are struggling, how to block people and how to talk to adults about what is going on.

• News and Media Literacy

  • This section focuses on teaching kids how to find trustworthy and reliable news sources online, as well as creating honest and truthful content of their own.

We have found that going over these 6 topics is a great way to prepare kids for the online world and teaches them best practices to safe, healthy and have fun. For more information on what we teach in our classes and camps about digital citizenship, click here.

Kidas

As a parent or guardian, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to keep your kids safe online. Even kids who are educated on digital citizenship can sometimes still get into difficult online situations, especially in the gaming world. That’s where a service like Kidas comes in and can be a great tool to keep your kids safe online.

Kidas is a service designed to notify parents if their children are exposed to bullying, online predators, sexual content, hate speech, or other toxic behaviors on online multiplayer PC games. The founder of Kidas is a big gamer who noticed that as time has gone by, the gaming space has changed and that there is a lot of toxic behavior in the gaming world. Kidas was created because they felt parents should be alerted when something toxic is going on (You can sign up here and be sure to use the promo code: CoderKids to get a free month!).

The Kidas software listens in the background while your child is playing. It monitors screen time, voice in-game communications (monitors voice on discord and Fortnite, monitors text in Roblox, with more to come). The software is listening for a variety of toxic gaming behavior like sharing private information, sexual content, trash talking, cyber-bullying, predators, and online scammers.

Kidas believes in protecting the child's privacy while they play, but they want to open the lines of communication between parents and children. Kidas recommends that parents use Kidas with their child knowing about it, instead of sneaking behind their backs and installing the software.

With Kidas, parents receive a weekly update about their child’s online activity. The email is broken down into a variety of different categories and classifies the behaviors as Red, Yellow or Green (red and yellow are cause for concern, green is fine). The standards are divided by age groups (6-10 and 11-15), and the email provides recommendations for how to talk to your child if there is behavior in the yellow or red colors. The only time Kidas tells parents something specific about what a child said is if the child is threatening to harm themselves or has given someone private information that puts them at immediate risk. The weekly email also includes an article about digital resources that are helpful for parents navigating the digital world.

The Kidas website has a Frequently Asked Questions page on their website where you can find more information about the service. Pricing is $6/month and as of right now, it is available for PC’s, not for Macs, or an XBox. When you sign up, be sure to use the promo code: CoderKIds and get a free month!

Conclusion

Keeping your kids safe online is something every parent or guardian worries about. Teaching kids about digital citizenship and how to use the internet in a constructive way is a good place to start. Commonsense.org has great resources for parents, guardians and teachers for helping kids navigate the online world. Kidas is another awesome tool for parents to keep their kids safe online. It’s a software that monitors gaming and notifies parents about anything dealing with privacy, sexual content, trash talking, cyber-bullying, predators, or online scammers that their kids are encountering. We think the internet has a plethora of fun, engaging, and educational opportunities for kids, but there are also things they need to be protected from. Taking proactive steps to ensure the safety is the best way to do it!

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