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As your child becomes a little older, they will probably want to use the Internet more often.  And they may even be required and encouraged to use it for school projects and tasks.  This can be a scary time for parents who want to shelter their children from much of the inappropriate behavior that takes place on the Internet.

Between the ages of 8 and 10, your child will probably become more interested in technology in general, including things such as mobile phones, text messaging, and instant messaging.  Children at this age have also been known to misreport their ages in order to gain access to social networking sites like MySpace.  Surprisingly, more and more children in this age group are participating in cyberbullying.

Some of the things that you can do as a parent to help keep your 8 to 10 year  safe online is implementing strong filtering and parental control technologies.  It is also probably a good idea to only allow access to school related and recommended sites for children of this age.  Be sure to also make use of antivirus and antispyware software and pop-up blockers to prevent unwanted software and information from residing on your child's computer.  You should also use the available filtering technologies offered by many of the major search engines.  Children of this age should spend no more than an hour online each day.

By the time your child reaches the 10 to 12 year old age group, he or she is probably very comfortable with using interactive technologies.  This is the age range that you should be extremely diligent in monitoring online behavior, because this is when most children will really become interested in things such as social networking.  Children of this age group are also extremely prone to attacks by cyberbullies.

Once again, be sure that you have appropriate filtering software and parental controls in place to monitor your child's online behavior.  By this time, more sophisticated software may be needed, so you should upgrade as necessary.

It may also be a good idea depending on the maturity (or immaturity) level of your child to continue to only allow access to sites needed for school work.  Use the advanced settings available by many major search engines to help filter the content that is available for viewing by your child.  Be sure to also monitor your child's email and instant messaging accounts.   You should also be on the lookout for signs that your child is being bullied online.  Some of these indications include anxiety when he or she goes online or answers the cell phone.  Also, be sure to diligently monitor the computer for unwanted images and files.

Keep any suggestions in mind should help give you peace of mind when your child is on the Internet.  Ultimately,though, it is up to you to be proactive concerning your child's online activities.
 
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