Communication is easier than ever, thanks to mobile technology. However, as with Internet use, parents should practice safety precautions when using mobile phones and teach those principles to their children. Here are some basic guidelines:
 
1.   Give your kid an “age appropriate” cell phone.  Evaluate the need of your kids. Will they need one for school or to communicate with the family? This will help you decide whether or not a smartphone is necessary.
2.   Check the applications that your kids are using. This will serve as your gauge of the mobile behavior of your kids and the kind of games your kids are playing.
3.   Regulate the use of mobile phones.  Like the Internet, kids can get caught up in using their mobile phones, which can be a distraction to their studies.
4.   Spot-check the contents of the phone. Depending on their age, kids should be aware that you will be spot-checking their phones for inappropriate material. Inform them that your action will prevent them

Screenshot from PH Yahoo! Safely

Part 9 of a series (Click to Read Part 8.)

To help educate kids and parents (and others as well) about online safety, Yahoo! put up Yahoo! Safely, a site that provides information about online threats and tips on the best wired practices.  Yahoo! has localized the site for over 25 countries.

Yahoo! Safely's primary mission is to promote awareness and provide information to parents, educators, kids, and teens about how they can secure their virtual life. It features experts' advice, product reviews, and other resources that will help them establish a safe virtual community.

Parents who are fearful about letting their kids manage their own online accounts such as email or social media network profiles should consider going through the site with their kid or kids. This way, both parent and child can go through the site and use the featured topics as a starting point for their personal discussion.

The great thing about Yahoo! Safely is that it covers every possible subject that kids may

AP Photo

Part 8 of a series (Click to Read Part 7.)

In the last two discussions, we shared with you how you can take advantage of the built-in "parental control" feature of Windows (Vista and up) and Mac to regulate the time being spent by  kids on the computer, and restrict access to specific websites. Please note also, that this feature is also available in the premium versions of different anti-virus brands.

If you are using an older OS or your OS do not have this feature, there is a 3rd party online tool, that you can use for free.  I am talking about Open DNS (www.opendns.com). Though regulating time of kids is not covered here, this is a good alternative as a stand alone protection, and a potent protection if used in conjunction with the built-in "parental control".

Open DNS can help parents enforce the house rules relative to Internet and social web use, and provide another layer of protection. What's good about this tool is you can edit  your "network" settings remotely.

Protecting

AP Photo

Part 7 of a series (Click to read Part 6.)

In our last post, we started discussing about child protection tools for your kids safety online. Since majority of PCs here in the Philippines have Windows as OS, we shared how you can manipulate and use the built-in parental control of Windows.

On this post, however, we'll discuss the similar feature of a Macintosh computer.  In some ways the OS are different, but the objective behind parental control is the same- regulate the time being spent on computer and restrict access to certain programs/applications or Internet sites.

You can customize Mac Parental Control is just nine steps:

1. To be able to do this, make sure you have the administrator privileges.

2. Log on to your computer.

3. Click the apple icon on the upper left corner and click "System Preferences."

4. Click accounts icon under "system" and create an account for your kids.

5. Turn on the "Manage parental control" from the New Accounts tab, then input the information needed.

AP Photo

Part 6 of a series (Click to read Part 5.)

Parental guidance notices or advisories are commonly affixed on TV shows or movies to remind parents to guide their young on what they see and hear.

But this is not the case when it comes to accessing Internet. Without proper intervention, parents and kids are not warned of the sites they are about browse. As a precautionary measure, parents should use the built-in and third-party online tools to regulate time of computer use, access to Internet and gaming sites.

In the next few articles, we will be discussing built in parental control and other online tools. In this post, we will discuss how parents can do that for computers using Windows Vista and Windows 7 OS.

Launch the Start menu, look for the Search box and type "Parental Controls" to open the control panel.

•    Choose the user to configure the parental controls. (Enter your password for your administrator if prompted, if you are not logged as the administrator.)
•    Below Parental

AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara

Part 5 of a series (Click to read Part 4.)

The Philippines, which has been dubbed as the "social networking capital of the world," has the highest social media penetration rate with more than 26 million online users.

According to SocialBakers.com, 20 percent of Facebook users are 13 to 17 years old. These roughly means five million kids need to be guided so that sensitive personal and family information will not be divulged to everyone.

Below are important things parents should teach their kids:

•    Provide minor information. Give out only basic or general information that are common knowledge. Avoid participating and allowing polls or survey, application and sites that are suspicious.
•    Never ever share home address and phone numbers.
•    Do not disclose parents and siblings. Real friends know who they are.
•    Use avatar as profile picture, or use old pictures.
•    Don't respond to unknown sender of messages that they receive. Delete or remove them away quickly.
•    Do not

AP Photo

Part 4 of a series (Click to read Part 3 and Part 5.)

Games are are always a hit among kids—be they old-fashioned  or hi-tech ones. But combining games with technology spawned a new challenge for parents.

As a modern generation parent it is but proper to be involved with our kids [online] gaming activities to ensure balance on kids growth.

Here are some practical tips for parents:

1. Know the games your kids play. As a parent you should know what the contents of the games are. This way, you are in better position to guide and mentor your kids. Giving a "blanket" approval or restriction to gaming is also not healthy.

2. Allow only age-appropriate games. Games should be age appropriate to your child, it prevents early exposure to materials that can influence behavior.

3. Regulate play time and restrict access to if needed. Managing the time consumption of your kid's access to games can anticipate potential addiction and it can develop your child's disciplined trait.

4. Play the games

AP Photo
Part 3 of a series (Click to read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4.)

Social networking sites are supposedly a fun place. But the innocence of our kids and our own ignorance can bring harm to the family. Follow these safety practices and teach the same to kids, and your family can avoid the common pitfalls.

1. Define you individual online philosophy. - This will govern your online behavior (i.e., if philosophy is for family use, one can share liberally but restrict connection to family members only). If philosophy is for networking, one can add anyone but sharing is conservative.

2. If you can, share as less personally identifiable information. - Free services thrive on the information you give out. Where there is data and info, money flows.

3. Do not disclose family members. - Your real life friends know them, cyber criminals don't.

4. Encourage kids to use avatars instead of pictures in their profile, and an alias in their handle. - This will help protect their privacy.

5. After