I’ve partnered with the Mom It Forward Network and Google to share this information. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m dating myself but do you remember dial-up and that screeching sound as we got connected to AOL to enjoy the beginnings of the connecting with others via chat rooms? I remember being 11 and giving someone my phone number and home address as we planned to meet up in real life to hang out. I was young, innocent and presumed others were too when sharing their own a/s/l but that wasn’t and still isn’t the case. Now that the internet has developed more, so has the need for safety precautions and programs like Be Internet Awesome.

Times Have Changed

And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. When I grew up, the internet was still vastly unknown as was the power behind it. We still used things like encyclopedia’s, had to go into stores to go shopping and used way more paper. With the help of the internet, so much paper waste has been reduced and it’s beautiful!

But with the beauty, comes some ugly. The internet is NOT just for adults and predators use this to their advantage. It’s more important now than ever to keep those lines of communications open with our kids about who they talk to, what information they’re sharing, and how to keep it safe while on the internet. Luckily, you aren’t alone.

Be Internet Awesome As A Family

Google (yes, THE Google) has developed a resource making it easier to introduce the internet safely to our children as well as have the important conversations with our kids who are already semi-professional surfers. They take the think work out of how to start the conversations and what to cover with them with their Be Internet Awesome program that they’ve just launched.

The internet is an amazing place where you can order groceries at a click. For kids, it can be dangerous which is why Google launched Be Internet Awesome.

The Be Internet Awesome program encourages kids to:

Smart
Alert
Strong
Kind
Brave

Be Internet Awesome Resources

I don’t know about your kids, but mine are into playing games (when I’m not making sure that they’ve done their schoolwork) on their computers. Yes, they have their own computers which is why this program is so important to me. With having so much access to so many things at their fingertips, it’s important that they have rules, guidelines and know how to handle safety without question.

Be Internet Awesome has developed resources that have made presenting the information to our kids so easy. They have everything from a game for them to play, a pledge for they to sign and a curriculum to review or to share with their teachers to review with their classes. Yes, friends, they thought of everything.

A Note About Safety

Unfortunately we’re seeing more and more kids become victims of internet (and real life) bullying. The difference between internet and real life bullying is that on the internet, you can’t get away from it and it tends to have this snowball effect. I’ve read far too many articles about how apps are making it easier for our children to become victims of these words and parents are often left wondering how they missed the signs. I encourage you all to be prepared for conversations by checking out Google’s guide on Cyberbullying. We all want to believe that it will never be our child but our babies aren’t invisible–prepare them.

So what next?

Have your kids play the Interland game and take the pledge with them. Share the curriculum with their school and stress the importance of keeping your kids safe. And use your voice to share it with other parents.

Let’s make the internet a safer place together.