Staying Safe Online

My kids are reaching the age when they are online more often, especially for school. I'm not naive enough to think that internet filters work all the time. It's more important that kids learn how to have an "internal filter" than rely on a program or parent to tell them what not to look at online. And I have heard too many tragic stories of very young children taken advantage of, disturbed or traumatized by something they saw online.I bought this book and a few others to discuss with my kids different things they might be exposed to, to be careful about what they disclose and send, as well as the concept that online is not real life. The book has some good content in it. I have several Usborne books and really like this company in general. However, this book missed it for me in one way. In the pages about pornography, the language is confusing – The first page seems to communicate that children looking at porn is okay if you want to see it and it makes you feel good. Subsequent pages went into more depth about how porn is a performance, gives wrong ideas about bodies and sex, and there are predators online, etc. I don't feel like I understand the bottom line of the book on porn. My bottom line is it is harmful (check out Fight The New Drug dot org), especially for children. So we might skip that chapter and I bought "Good Pictures Bad Pictures" to discuss pornography with my kids.Every family has their own boundaries. In mine, we have a very clear one about porn.

While some of the screen safe practices are well thought out, there are others that have a strong worldview perspective when it comes to sex, pornography, and how a kid "feels" about these things. We returned.

I think this is a great book! It's very comprehensive and covers all the basic social media topics that preteens and teens should know e.g Online Manners, Cyberbulling,Buying online, Sexting/Porn, Protecting yourself from strangers, among others. Every topic is addressed in a friendly and approachable tone. I highly recommend!

I love this book! It covers a wide range of topics from harmful adults to dealing with trolls and everything in between.As a chronically online parent who never had anything like this growing up, I think it's a very well structured and educational tool for navigating the Internet, even for advanced users.I bought this for our 8 year old computer and gaming obsessed daughter, and while the reading level is fairly difficult, I have been reading it to her and with her and she has found it informative and helpful. Of course, I am reading it along with her and am there to answer her questions as best as I can.As for the chapter about sexting and porn, we are a sex positive household, so any child who knows about sex and is navigating the Internet, should know about what could happen if they encounter something that slips through the filters. Staying educated about it is very important to us and the book handles all of it beautifully.As a female gamer myself, I wish there was a dedicated chapter about gaming and dealing with everything that comes with that and more in depth than simply coveting trolls and bullies, but that is the only thing I find this book lacks.I would absolutely recommend all parents read this book with their children!

This book is great but be aware there is a chapter about sexting and porn. I ripped it out because my daughter is way too young for that, but the other tips were very good and I would recommend it.

Great book, kids love it

A great book, very simple and easy to read/understand, plenty of pictures to keep them engaged