An article by Matthe Blain at ‘Protect Your Kids’

The Impact of a Gift:
Giving Cautiously This Christmas

Under the sparkling lights of the Christmas tree, a young child ripped through the Christmas paper to find the iPad for which he had pleaded for months. His family smiled at his glee, but very soon they would be heartbroken. Through this gift he received his first exposure to hardcore pornography, which he would keep secret from his family.

Unfortunately, this scenario will occur thousands of times this Christmas as parents with good intentions wrap unprotected mobile devices that are the equivalent of emotional and psychological dynamite.

Please, don’t be one of those parents.

43% of children view pornography for the first time before the age of 13. That’s not a joyful statistic and should serve as a wake-up call about the risks and impact that unprotected computers, gaming systems, and mobile devices may have on a child’s life.

These risks include:
Pornography exposure
Cyberbullying
Child predation
Inappropriate photo-sharing
Take the time to get educated on these issues. Life is busy, and these things so easily get put on the backburner. But life will come to a screeching halt the moment you realize your child has been exposed to, or is a part of, an online danger.

Three things you can do now to start protecting your family:
Talk to your children. Let them know that the new device they get for comes with responsibility and consequences. Set a standard in your home for safe Internet use and stick to it.
Do an app inventory. Do you know all the apps your child has on their phone or tablet and what those apps do? Popular apps like Snapchat are getting kids into inappropriate situations, some with legal consequences. Parents need to stay educated and research new apps their kids want to use.
Install protective monitoring and/or filtering software on your children’s internet devices. This gives an extra layer of protection for when you cannot be there to look over your child’s shoulder. Services like Covenant Eyes can help your children make wise choices about the sites they go to, knowing someone will receive a regular report of their activity.
To learn more about protecting your kids online visit http://www.ProtectYourKids.org.uk
For a 30 free trial of internet accountability software visit ProtectYourKids.org.uk/free or CovenantEyes.com and use promotional code: keeppure

Our mailing address is:
ProtectYourKids.org.uk
52 Limestone MeadowsMoira, County Armagh BT67 0UT
United Kingdom