Our first Internet Safety Morning at Sekolah Bogor Raya (25th August, 2010) was a huge success with 78 participants joining the session. Our apologies to any parents who had to stand up for the workshop due to lack of space, please do register for the event in advance next time so that we can split the morning into two or three sessions if necessary. We discussed the importance of online safety and teaching our children about how to stay safe online.
Many parents also asked for links to some of the resources I mentioned. I have tried to provide the key sites below; please bear in mind that these are best used if you have a young child who will have unsupervised internet time. At Sekolah Bogor Raya, we recommend unfiltered internet access at home so that children can search for information to support their learning, but we realize that some parents might like to have a degree of control over their children’s internet access – especially if their children will be using the internet in an unsupervised environment.
KidRocket
KidRocket doesn’t let the browser have access to the whole internet, instead, it blocks out the whole internet and only allows access to top-quality, child friendly sites. It also has some handy parent monitoring tools and a timer you can set to lock your child’s computerif they have been using it too long.
If you want to get KidRocket for your computer, you can download and install from here; http://kidrocket.org/download.php
KidZui
KidZui is an internet browser for kids, something that will make parents at ease while their kids browse the internet. Vailable for Windows, MAc, or as a Firefox add-on, Kidzui allows for easy navigation through categories and larg eimages for kids. KidZui uses teachers and parents to screen content and maintains a database of approved URLs.
If you want to get KidZui for your computer, you must first download and install a web browser called Firefox (KidZui does not work on Internet Explorer). You can do that at this link; http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html
Then you need to download and install KidZui. You can do that at this link; http://www.kidzui.com/download/windows
Kidzui is available for all platforms and runs independently of your browser. You can download a Windows, Mac, or Firefox version from www.kidzui.com
Your child can set up an avatar and start browsing safely and connecting with friends instantly.
NetNanny
NetNanny is a paid (around $40) internet filter service that allows you to block sites that you do not want your child to view, stop inappropriate chat, stop illegal file sharing, and monitor where your children are going online.
It is available at; http://www.netnanny.com/
Kid-Safe Search Engines
Some search engines that are safe for kids include;
www.ajkids.com
www.yahooligans.com
www.onekey.com
www.kidsclick.org
You can set these up as your browser home page on internet explorer by choosing “Tools” from the top menu. Choose “Internet Options” and on the “General” tab, you can change the “Home Page” to one of those kid-safe search engines.
Changing and Locking Google Search
Google search has different levels of filtering and those levels can be locked on a computer. Because Google searches the entire internet, this is not a fool-proof way to avoid negative content, but it does reduce the amount of inappropriate sites that your child will encounter.
On the Google front page, choose “Search Settings” or “Setelan Penelusuran” from the top right corner. On the page that comes up, go to “Safesearch Filtering” or “Penyaringan TelusurAman”.
Choose the level of filtering you would like and, if you want to lock the settings, choose “Lock SafeSearch” or “GembokTelusurAman” (you will need a Google or Gmail login to do this).
(Updated 03 September 2010)
I think it’s great that you hosted an internet safety night for parents. This is so incredibly important. Although the Internet is a fabulous resource, it simply wasn’t built with kids in mind. Even with the best of intentions, children are still able to stumble across something inappropriate that you may be stuck trying to explain (don’t you just love those awkward moments). Even worse, they could find themselves in some dangerous situations.
I actually work for KidZui, one of the solutions you mentioned in your post. Thanks for that great coverage! I would like to clarify that users don’t have to have Firefox installed on their computers to work with KidZui. Our browser runs on Mac and PCs, independent of your installed Internet browser. However, if you have Firefox, we also have a plugin available. You can download all three versions for free at http://www.kidzui.com.
Thanks!
Tara
KidZui Mom
@ KidZui Mom
Thanks very much for the input and the correction – I have amended the information on KidZui accordingly. By the way, congratulations on producing such a great product; my own kids and many of my students are huge fans of KidZui.
GD