Guidelines for parents and children for safe Internet use
Our children, who represent our future and our hopes, are at the same time that part of our society who needs more than everyone else, protection and care, in accordance with the child’s best interest in any decision concerning them.
The computer and information technology developments, which allow children to expand their knowledge through the new sources of information and new cultural experiences, can also be potential risk factors, which could lead to children’s exploitation and arm, through computer networks.
Having in consideration the legal protection of the chidren in Albania as well as the best European practice, the Albanian operators, have signed the Code of Conduct for Safe and Responsible Use of use of Electronic Communication Networks and Services in Albania.
We hope that these guidelines would help you, as parents, legal guardians or children to understand the difficulties which arise from Internet use, as well to comply with the responsibilities, rights and duties of the parents or legal guardians for their children.
In accordance with the current Albanian legislation, the parents/legal guardians are primarily responsible to create life conditions that guarantee the development and their education.
Your children may want to make or develop new friendships, spend time in the Internet or also search for information for a specific topic, sometimes even through discussing/contacting through the chat.
Therefore, PLUS would like you to consider its below suggestions or guidelines, which aim to help you in your everyday life.
- Even if these knowledges or experiences might be valid, the parents shall consider the continuous monitoring of the time spent on-line by their children.
- On-line children are more at risk during the evening hours because persons having various intentions might be more active during these hours.
- Therefore, it is important to discuss with your children asking them about the webpages that they usually visit, and especially, about the existing or new friends.
- Moreover, in order to avoid any problem that your children may encounter, you must keep them close, informing and advising them not to accept invitations from strangers, not to post or put their personal information, like their name, address, photo or anything that might be directly or indirectly connected to them, not to communicate with strangers giving them their real name, home or school address, or their phone number.
- Teach your children to understand and evaluate with critical eye the information they might encounter on the Internet, in order to verify the accuracy or the truthfulness of the appeared information.
- Talk with your friends and relatives about the way that they understand and educate their children to behave on the Internet.
- Use and encourage the use of search engines which protect children, where there are any.
- Set some useful rules to be followed by your children, some of them suggested as. below:
- For activities that you believe can violate the rights of your children, please adress the issue to the respective responsible Albanian authorities, such as the Government Agency for Children Protection or other governmental units, or call the National Children Counseling Line ALO 116.
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- Set from the beginning rules of use on the computer, cell phone and Internet and ensure their respect by your children.
- - Always accompany your children during the use of the internet and their first browsing on the Internet through both the computer and cell phone and continuously communicate with them in order to be informed about every concern related to the above they might have.
- - Control, on a daily basis, the history of the internet pages visited by your children.
- - Classify your children as “specific users” in your computer, by limiting their Internet use.
- - Place the computer in a common area of your apartment or house, not in your child’s bedroom.
- - Inform your children, on a daily basis, about the Internet risks talking to them also about topics such as cyber bullying or the use of Internet and related technologies to harm other people or their intellectual property, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner, as well as sending of materials of sexual content through Internet or cell phone or child grooming or intentional actions which aim is to create an emotional relationship with a child in order to exploit him/her.
- - Continuously repeat to your children not to give any information or personal data to anyone through internet (including their password) and explain to them why they should not communicate with strangers or post, send photos or personal documents.
- - Teach your children to respect age indicators and restrictions in computer games or value added services.
- - Check and strengthen the confidentially parameters in the Internet as often as possible.
- - Teach your children not to answer to a threatening email or message, but instead to immediately talk to you in order to take the right actions.
