Rules of the Road: Safety on the Information Highway Place your computer in an open area of your home where you can easily supervise your child’s Internet activity. Teach your kids to never give out personal information over the Internet to include—their name, address, phone number, passwords, parent’s names, name of their school or job. Establish house rules for Internet use at home and outside of the home. Remind your child that Internet use is a privilege, not a right. Monitor the amount of time your child spends on the Internet.  Excessive time online, especially at night, may be your warning sign of impending danger. Spend time online with your child and establish an atmosphere of trust and open communication. Limit your child’s Instant Messaging (IM) to a parental approved buddy list.  Perform regular checks on your child’s buddy list. Do not allow your child to participate in online chat rooms without your direct supervision.  Warning Sign-online predators use chat rooms as their playground. We strongly recommend using anti-virus and spy ware software such as Webroot. If your child has a MYSPACE or other social networking account, do not allow personal profile information such as personal address, telephone number etc.  Parents should check the account periodically. Kid’s should never plan to meet face-to-face with anyone they meet online. We do suggest the use of monitoring software such as Cybersential, however, please remember that no software program can replace good parental skills.