When children go online they are exposed to many things that can be detrimental to their mental and emotional help. The internet can be a great source for leaning, but it can also be a breeding ground for child predators, pornography, and inflammatory material. In order to keep children safe, parents should incorporate the use of parental controls.

Parental controls monitor the child’s activities online and stop them from accessing information that is unhealthy to them. Parent controls can be used in several different ways. A parent can use his or her computer to make a list of sites that are safe for their computer to go on and only allow access to these sites.The whole story can be found at http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamthierer/2011/09/15/kids-parents-online-safety/ That way if the child attempts to go on another site, the computer will not do such.

Controls can also be put into place using words or phrases. The parent would type in specific words or phrases that the or she does not wish the child to see, and a warning will be sent if the one of the child’s social media friends sends such information. There are also programs that monitor the activity that goes on in the child’s chat sessions. This kind of program would be useful when trying to detect a sexual predator. Parents can use any of these services to protect their children.