Kaspersky Lab: The end of summer vacation is approaching signaling the start of the new school year. Soon kids will leave the beaches to get back in front of their computers and start using tools like tablets and smartphones again to prepare their homework. In fact, in addition to a wide variety of useful educational materials, children can easily encounter unwanted content on Internet, such as pornography, violence and websites that focus on drug use or even suicide. 
For this reason, parents should pay special attention to the online activity of their children. Her experts Kaspersky Lab advise parents who want to protect their children in cyberspace:
Limit the time children spend on the Internet
Children are good to spend some time on the internet, looking for educational information, playing games or even chatting with their friends on Facebook. However, everyone will agree that most children probably spend too many hours online. That's why parents need to adopt strict rules about the time children spend in front of a computer. Before setting these new rules, parents should make sure to have an honest conversation with their child, explaining why these boundaries are important. Otherwise, they can be seen as an arbitrary punishment, creating problems in the relationship of parents with their children.
Check the content
It is important to explain to children what they can and can not do on the internet and set clear rules. As children grow older, these rules need to be re-examined. To ensure that children respect the rules you set up, we recommend that you use the Parental Control capabilities provided by Kaspersky Internet Security - Multi-Device, allowing parents to restrict the time children use the Internet, block access to inappropriate websites and games, and prevent third parties from disclosing their personal information. Websites and games are categorized according to their content and the age of the children. Also, parents can easily see detailed reports that record all the online activities of their children.
Advise your children
By discussing with their children the new rules, it is good for parents to share some advice with them. In this way, they will help their children protect themselves against online threats while at the same time they will show them that they trust them.
- Do not disclose publicly or to foreign classified information such as your address, school etc. As "strangers" we mean people of any age you do not really know.
- Do not accept offerscalls meet any person you don't know.
- Do not disclose your phone or email to anyone and do not publish this information on your social media pages.
- Do not open left-wing that come from strangers.
- Do not trust tempting messages of any kind - free bids, discounts, rising reputation or likes in some medium etc. Just delete these messages and do not open any of the links they contain.
- If anything happens to make you feel uncomfortable, or if you start receiving messages from third parties worrying about you, tell your parents immediately and ask for help in coping with the problem.
Try to locate a basic problem
Parents should not forget that children remain connected to the Internet even when they turn off their computer, using tablets, smartphones and other devices. If children immediately start looking for another gadget when they find that the computer is not available, parents must make sure that these devices are also protected against digital threats. Check why your kids prefer the digital world instead of meeting their friends in real life.
Is there a lack of social opportunities or is there a need for more physical activities? In any case, parents need to focus on non-computer-related family activities to ensure that their children enjoy a healthy and balanced life.
