How to limit child exposure to Internet vice

• Educate children on how to use the Internet positively and to never give personal information such as contact details, parents’ work details or the name and location of their school without parents’ consent.
• Check with your service provider for age-appropriate parental control devices.
• Bookmark websites that are child friendly and seek help from Internet providers on how to block other unfriendly sites.
• Know children’s friends and who they interact with while online.
• Teach children about the dangers of accepting someone they don’t know in social networks and chat rooms and never to reply to a suspicious looking email or click on a web link contained in one.

Ms Dorcas Muthoni, the CEO Openworld, a software consulting company, says parents should guide their children and take keen interest in what they do.

“It is advisable to have the computer in an open room with the monitor facing out in order to monitor what your child is surfing,” says Ms Muthoni.

Schools, which rank high in Kenya as a platform for children to access the Internet, should put in place measures to filter unwelcome websites.

Parents too can seek advise from their Internet service providers on the various options available to them to ensure their children’s safety.

Services for rating website content are also available.