Online Safety Guide for Children

Cnet has pulled together a mix of good advice and information in an online safety guide for children. It's worth a bookmark on every parent's computer.

The guide brings together articles on how to help kids surf safely, cyberbullying, and parental controls to filter unwanted Internet content. It's a good stop to get up to date quickly on the latest legislation, web content filter options, and advice for helping kids navigate the web at every age.

Particularly helpful is a by-age list of tips on helping kids stay safe online. The tips come from Parry Aftab, executive director of Wiredsafety.org. Check out the whole site, but here are a few safety tips recounted:

Ages 7 and under: Use search engines appropriate for kids, such as Yahoo! Kids and Ask for Kids. At this age, there's no need for participating in online interactive games or for participating in blogs or posting profiles

Ages 13 to 15: Try to keep computers in central locations. Know what interactive games your child is playing that may allow them to interact with strangers.

Ages 16 and up: By now, the training wheels and ultra-oversight tools are off, and you just have to keep talking to your kids about being respectful to others and themselves online. Aftab recommends telling them to search for their names online to see what surfaces. Remind them that any images and words they put online about themselves will be around for a long time to come.