Tips on Child Safety Online: Should You Allow Your Kids to Blog?

You definitely should allow your kids to blog as today nearly every internet user has a blog of some sort. This is one of the best methods of self-expression on the Web and also a great tool for making friends. However, it’s essential to understand that you should allow your child to blog and use the Internet in general only after you go over the Children’s Guide to Online Safety. Aside from following the guidelines created by Unicef, you should also develop your own family rules of online safety. When it comes to blogging, ensure the safety of the platform first and then proceed to teach your kids about the wise selection of topics and managing comments.

Why You Should Allow Your Kids to Blog

Blogging helps your children improve their English and writing skills.
By creating and running the blog you might teach the child some basics of online business.
By running a blog, your kids will become more internet-savvy.
Blogs can help kids make friends and develop their social skills.

Of course, there is a dark side to blogging as well. If the child isn’t supervised properly, they might share some important personal information. They also might get hurt by offending comments or be ensnared by some predators that hunt online.

How to Ensure Your Kids Stay Safe When Blogging

To avoid problems, you need to be very thorough in both teaching your child about online safety and supervising of their blog. In fact, you should make it a joint project at first. If your family already has a blog, you can have the two connected. For this, you’ll need to use a hosting service that can host multiple websites. In this case, your website management solution should be able to support several domains by default. This means you’ll be able to keep a closer eye on the blog and ensure there’s nothing inappropriate on your child’s website.

Giving your child that independent website is important to teach them not only about technology but also about responsibility. It’s essential to show your kids the ‘nuts and bolts’ of blogging so they understand that there’s more to it than adoring fans.

One mommy blogger expressed one side of this issue quite well when she explained why she quit blogging to Washington Post. She described how disturbed she was to see that her children, who have been the stars of her blog since before they were born, grew up without understanding the necessity for online privacy.

Those kids were so sheltered, they believed that the entirety of the online community is just like the other nice moms who commented on their own mother’s posts. But if you allow your kids to blog, it’s your duty to teach them that the online community can be cruel and dangerous, and that’s why observing the online safety rules is essential.

Running a blog of their own since young age might be exactly what children need to learn this painful lesson. And if you set it up right, that lesson will come in a controlled environment, so you’ll be able to limit the damage.

To recap, you should allow your children to blog but only if you make it safe. Discuss the topics they can and cannot write about and be sure to review their texts before posting. Then monitor all comments and any other reactions that come through your child’s blog. Discuss any problem episodes with your kids to ensure they understand online dangers and know how to deal with them.