Keeping Your Kids Safe on the Internet

By: Charles Steiner

When it comes to protecting your kids on the Internet, the advise a family minister used to be able to give was much more simple. “Put the computer in an open room where everyone can see it” we’d say. Now, portable “computers” are very popular. We are living in a world where even many preteens have their own personal smart phones, tablets, and laptops. Now that our “computers” often fit in our pockets, the task of protecting your children on the Internet has become that much more difficult. The reality is, your child could be sitting just feet away from you and be getting in to much trouble on these devises.

Is there any solution to protect your children from pornography, sexual predators, cyber bullying, identify theft, and the many other dangers awaiting them on the internet? I suggest that if you as a parent are really serious about keeping your kids safe on the Internet, that you look into a tool that will let you know as a parent what your kids are doing on the Internet. One tool that appears to be very useful is called McGruff Safeguard.

McGruff Safeguard is a service that intelligently monitors kids' Internet activity, including: websites visited, chat, instant messaging, search engine phrases, and social network profiles on Facebook and many others. The Service alerts parents to problems such as cyber bullying, Internet predators, dangerous behavior, underage/illicit sexual activity, suicide, drug use, credit card abuse and crime.

The service notifies you via email or text message when your child's online behavior is worrisome. For example, if “little Jimmy” did a Google search for “playboy”, mom and dad would either be emailed or texted that it happened. You could even take it a step further and have every single thing they do on the Internet (good or bad) sent to you in a daily email. This service can be used on all devices with Internet capability. If you use some of the same devices as your kids, you can change the settings where you do not have to be under the same type of restrictions as your children. McGruff Safeguard can be used for $7.50 a month. If you like it and decide you want to keep using it, you can pay $119 and be able to use it for the rest of your life with no monthly payments.

I could tell you much more about this tool that helps your kids stay safe on the Internet. However, the best thing you can do to learn more is to visit gomcgruff.com. There you will find all the information and videos to help you decide if you want to use this product or not. You can also learn more by searching “McGruff Safeguard” in the Apple app store. For those of you that do decide to do this, I would be interested in your feedback about what you are learning and how things are going. Please come to me with any question or concerns you have about this or any other issue relating to you, your kids, and your family. I am always happy to be of service.