Ensuring the Social Media Privacy of Your Children

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Let us face it – denying your children access to social networks will be impossible. Introducing a strict ban means that they will create social media profiles without even telling you.

Teaching children social media privacy at an early age is essential to keep them safe online. Be a modern parent and help your youngster understand the benefits and the dangers of using popular social networking websites.

Have the Talk, Don’t Ignore the Problem

Ignoring the problem means that you will be putting your child at risk.

Talking about safe social networking and the possible dangers will be challenging but otherwise, your child will grow up thinking that sharing all kinds of personal information online is acceptable.

Sit down and discuss the specifics of social media privacy. Doing that at an early age will instill some healthy habits. There is no need to be overly negative or to forbid anything. Just make sure that your child is aware of the dangers.

Monitor the Information that Your Child is Sharing

You should be in control of the information that your child is sharing via social networks. There are many people who will use the profiles of teenagers for stalking purposes. Whether you use a social media app or you do manual editing, get in the habit of controlling the information.

Your child should never post information about their age, their address or the school that they study in. A predator could easily use that data to figure out the location of your child at any given time.

The same rule applies to monitoring photo and video uploads.

Set Limits

Make sure that your child understands the limits. The kind of behavior that is unacceptable offline is also inappropriate in the online realm. Social media privacy depends heavily on your child’s behavior.

Peer pressure will force children, especially teenagers, into committing stupid mistakes. Revealing photographs and video clips have no place online. There should be some guidelines for social media usage and it is up to you to do the enforcement.

Be a Role Model

The social media privacy of your children will depend on your online behavior, as well.

Be a role model by creating the right kind of social networking profile for yourself. Lead by example and keep your profile clean. The manner in which you add online friends is also going to affect your child. Be careful!

Your child will have a social networking profile sooner or later. You need to get involved in the process right from the start. Let your kid know a bit more about the dangers but keep a positive attitude. Being open to new trends is essential for the relationship you have with your child.