There is little doubt that your kids may already know more about computers and how to use the Internet than you do. But, there are good signs, that despite some parents limited knowledge about the Internet, parents are setting rules to protect their child. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project:

• Over 68% of parent have established rules about the kinds of Web sites their teenaged children can visit, as well as rules about what kinds of information their children can share with people they talk to online.
• Nearly 7 in 10 parents of online teens said they regulated how much time their children spent on the Internet.
• Almost three-quarters of parents could correctly identify whether or not their online teen had ever created his or her own social networking profile.

Pew also notes that as children become teenagers, they tend to visit social networks as part of their Internet activities. At Better Parenting University, we have talked to many parents whose preteen children are already visiting social networks that cater to the younger set. e.g. imbee.com and webkinz.com.

Here’s how parents are placing rules on their teens media consumption:

Kudos to those parents who have been proactive in establishing rules and monitoring their teens’s internet activity. This is an excellent first step, but it is not all you should be doing.

Discover more way to protect your child for the dangers that lurk on the Internet in the online parenting seminar: Kids and The Internet: How You Can Keep Your Child Safe We are currently offering open registration for this eye-opening parenting seminar full of practical online safety strategies every family with a computer at home should be practicing.