Shaq is lending a hand to stop crime. The most recent news is about the Phoenix Suns star and Tempe police working together to set up an Internet Crimes Against Children unit.
The Republic reports Shaquille O'Neal and Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff traveled together Wednesday to the Pascua Yaqui Reservation near Tucson to visit a school and thank the tribe for a grant of $75,000 to get the Internet crimes unit going.
Ryff told the Republic that O'Neal has gained considerable expertise in detecting and preventing Internet crimes against young people because of his work with Los Angeles and Miami police agencie. A lot of attention has been put on Internet crimes, as predators sometimes use the web to lure youths into situations that can lead to abuse.
So what do you think? Do you talk about Internet safety often with your kids?
Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.
Here are tips that Karina
Here are tips that Karina Bland compiled a few weeks back. Story link here.
Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.
My oldest daughter is 6 and
My oldest daughter is 6 and she's not interested in surfing the internet yet, but when she starts showing interest, I'm definitely going to talk about internet safety with her. I'll continue to talk to her about safety and I'll also monitor her as she's on the internet.
jesshod is an arizonamoms.com discussion leader living in Surprise.
Internet Safety has been a
Internet Safety has been a huge topic in our household throughout the years. Having worked as an technology coordinator for an independent school for numerous years, a large part of my responsibilities included holding seminars for our parent body on internet safety. I found these sessions to be so valuable for everyone involved. When I started doing them, my children were young enough that they were not yet accessing the internet, so once I was done providing the parents with research and information, they would tell me about their first hand experiences and often ask for advice.
Certain things that I would emphasize include:
*keep control of internet accounts and settings, make sure your children know that internet/computer usage is a privilege that must be earned and respected
*keep control of the internet access in your household, all computers that your children are using the internet on should be centrally located in public areas of the house.
*know the sites your children are accessing and what they are using the computer for, it is easy to learn how to check the sites that they have visited on a computer by checking a browser's history (it is also easy for children to learn how to delete the history, but if this is done, you know it is time for a family discussion)
Overall, the most important thing is to keep the lines of communication open with your children, make sure you know the people they are communicating with by e-mail, instant messaging and chat. Let them know you love them and that you are aware because you care.