Just like their parents, children of all ages enjoy sending and receiving email. Email provides a fun and easy way for your child to keep in touch with a pen pal and chat with friends from school, church, or kid's clubs. Unfortunately, email is also a way for online predators to reach your children.
As a parent, you should first be aware that there are dangers when allowing your child to use email. You should also know that there are safety precautions you can take to protect your child while allowing them to enjoy the benefits of email.
Most Common Email Dangers for Your Child
Your child faces several dangers when using email. One danger is through direct contact. Your child might be contacted by an online predator directly through email without realizing it. The predator could pose as a friend or family member and learn personal information about your child. The predator might also find out about your family's daily or weekly schedule by asking your child subtle questions through email. Children are naturally open when talking with strangers and must be taught otherwise.
Another danger is your child might receive unsolicited advertisements, which often contain pornographic images or links. This is happening with emails everywhere - not only for those emails belonging to children. Many companies spend thousands of dollars per year trying to "beat the spammers" for company and employee emails.
You should rest assured that most of these spammers are not targeting your child in particular. They use software to harvest (or gather) millions of emails across the Web, and then send out mass emails containing terrible images or words that no child should see.
Still another danger is your child could be exposed to unwanted materials or mischievous ideas from their own friends through email. This is especially true with older children and teens.
Protect Your Children when Using Email
All the dangers mentioned above can be minimized by taking certain precautions. First, consider using your own email client instead of a free email account for your child. If you don't have a website of your own, you can still get a free email address at places such as My Space, Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc. and set it up in your own client. With your own email client such as Outlook Express, you can set up the client the way you want it and provide safety nets for your child. You can block specific items, view exactly where an email came from, view email histories, who your child sent emails to (and view the entire email message that was sent), and much more.
If you don't want to use your own email client, set up a child-safe email account with a reputable company. Ask other parents or research online to find one suitable for your child's age. Companies such as Yahoo! offer family email accounts that are secure for children.
Another way to protect your child is to only allow email usage when you or another adult is present. Monitor the emails closely - who they are emailing and what they are saying. Keep the computer system entirely "logged off" from your children when you are not around.
If using your own email client, turn off the "HTML" capabilities to prevent unwanted web page files from popping up unexpectedly. Use kid-safe Internet blocks to protect your email system from foul language or other unwelcome emails. Also, block attachments. You control the blocking. If your child wants to receive a photo or image from a friend, you can unblock it for that particular occasion.
Coach your child before they use email to recognize any suspicious emails; however, do not teach them how to operate email blocks, turn off HTML features, control filters, or check "sent" messages. These are features only you should know about in case your child attempts to be sneaky!
Before Getting an Email
Before allowing your child to get an email account or to use your email, make sure they understand the dangers of email and how easily predators can reach them if they are not careful. Be sure they never give out personal information until they know for sure it is a friend or family member who is emailing them.
Also, have a safe list of people that your child can or cannot exchange emails with. They should never give their email to a stranger whom they meet at the library, store, or anywhere else - even to workers at these places. If they do receive a suspicious email, they should tell you immediately and leave the email in place so you can see what it is. They should never reply or unsubscribe to emails.
Allowing your child to use email can be fun, educating, and a great way to prepare them for college and the business world. Keep these safety tips in mind so your child can have a safe email experience.