Internet safety measures for Muslim parents and kids
Educating and raising our kids and teenagers is our most important duty. Allah S.W.T has blessed us with this responsibility and has attached a great reward on completion of it successfully. The same way the Prophet PBUH has guided us. It is said in the Holy Quran: “O you who believe! Protect yourselves and your families against a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who disobey not the commands they receive from Allah, but do that which they are commanded.” (Quran: 66:6)
Parents today are struggling at their best to fulfill what Allah S.W.T and His Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have commanded them. Besides their struggle, the internet and online world has shown their charms and effects as well. No doubt, it is making our lives easy and comfortable but on the other hand, it has a darker side as well which is, more importantly, to be taken care of.
It is just one click away from that you or your kids can arrive at a point where you deliberately never wanted to go. It can be fraudulent payment incentives leading to thefts or even a kidnap leading to violence as well. It can be even a click away of nudity site ahead and many more unwanted things there.
Being a Muslim parent, it is our duty to safeguard our kids and teenagers by keeping our eyes on their use of the internet. So that we can keep them away from the filthy materials, immoral websites, and hundreds and thousands of pornographic websites over the internet. It is very much essential to keep good measures with good accountability and monitoring as well.
Discuss and talk to your kids and teenagers and Internet safety measures for Muslim parents and kids
Kids and teenagers are now keen to have the electronic devices we have in our hands. Parents and elderly people also want the kids to get engaged with the devices and even some moms do that deliberately to have some time to rest by making kids busy with the devices.
As soon as the kids start using these online devices and gadgets, parents must inform them about the use and sense of to behave online, its security, and safety as well. As the internet is playing a big role in our lives, parents should teach their kids how to use it safely with responsibility.
Below we will go through some of the ways to keep our kids safe while surfing the internet. Social media and www world:
1- Never ever speak the words to anyone online which you cannot say someone face to face or live in person.
2- Never be rude or unpleasant to anyone online.
3- Never disclose your personal information such as your name, phone number, email address, bank account, credit card details, or passwords especially to strangers.
4- Online allows well-known people to be friends with you on social media like Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
5- Do not post rude, embarrassing photos of you or your family.
6- Do not post videos of you or your family or anyone where they are being rude to someone.
7- Never arrange a meeting with someone you have met or communicated online.
8- Do not download files from an email unless you know that where they came from and who has sent them to you.
9- Do not download files from websites you have no knowledge about them or ask the parents if they are safe or not. Most websites with HTTPS:// are secure but you still need to confirm with your parents.
10- If you have to create a user name on a site, never use your real name as a user name.
11- Do not share the videos or audios or anything which has copyright. Unless you mention the source you got it from.
12- Don’t believe everything you read online as that information may be false or incorrect and don’t take an action at once while reading that information.
What parents are supposed to do to ensure internet safety for their kids?
1- Always keep the screen outwards and at places where you can keep an eye on it frequently, near to the kitchen or in a common sitting place.
2- Set some family rules on using computers, laptops, mobile phones, etc.
3- Inform the kids that you will monitor the messages, emails, and calls online to keep them safe and sound from un-know threats. And do it occasionally as well.
4- Share the daily stories of unsafe internet use happened in our daily life because of less care and monitoring.
5- If a meeting is necessary with an online person, guide the kids to take an adult with you, arrange the meeting at a public place, and don’t take valuables with you.
6- If you are learning online, make sure you are learning with a registered institute, which is paying tax as well.
7- A female of daughters should get a female teacher while learning online whether it is the Holy Quran or any other course.
8- Sending money to individuals is not more secure unless you know someone personally.
9- Sending money to individuals who are not paying tax or you have no authentic information about their identity can lead to trouble.
10- Reinforce the family rules that parents monitor all the online activities of the kids and teenagers for the safeguard.
11- If teens confide in you about something inappropriate or scary that they have encountered online, your first response should not be to take away Internet rights from them. Try to be positive and supportive and work with them to help prevent happening it again in the future.
12- Kids and teens have more access to the internet via other family members or friend’s homes. Remind the kids that everybody has the same threat for you and is a guard for you against such threats.
13- Keep Anit-virus and spam protectors up-to-date all the time.
With these mentioned precautions and measures, it is possible to get more benefits from the internet and avoid more risks attached to it. Parents are responsible not to leave the kids in the hands of the devil or evil. So must be vigilant about your kids that what they do, where they go, and with whom they spend most of their time. It is better to be safe than in trouble because of being over-confident with your kids and teens. And we wish you and your family a safe and prosperous life.
