Staying Safe Online
Staying safe online
Be careful about what sites you go to - the best way to do this is to use a well-known search engine like Google or Yahoo. Only go to sites that look and feel okay and are designed for kids. Find a grown up you can check with about which ones to use.
Be careful of emails that come from people you don't know - sometimes people send emails to try to trick you, or the email has a virus attached that would muck up things on your computer. If you get an email from someone you don't know it's a good idea to show an adult.
People may not always tell you the truth about themselves - I'm sure you've heard about stranger danger, and if you were playing at the park you wouldn't go off with someone you didn't know. It's the same when you're playing online or in chat rooms.
In chat rooms you can't see the person you are talking to, so it's hard to know that they are who they say they are. Sometimes adults who are strangers go onto kids chat sites and pretend that they are someone your age, when they aren't.
So really, it's best to only chat to people who you know already (like kids from school). If you ARE chatting to someone you don't know and they make you feel uncomfortable, it's important to tell a grown-up. If they ask you to meet them somewhere, it is important that you don't go and you tell a grown-up immediately.