Online Safety Measures: Tweens and Online Gaming

Summer is approaching  --- it can mean more time spent in cyberspace especially playing online game for tweens.  Here is a guest post a with 5 safety tips for your pre-teens.

When you look in your living room, are your pre-teens immersed in a video game on a console, computer, or cellphone? Chances are, the games they’re playing have online connectivity. Gartner reports that a large portion of the $111 billion video game market consists of online games. 38 percent of minors enjoy video gaming as a hobby, according to the Entertainment Software Association, and there’s plenty of benefits to encouraging them to play online enabled games. They provide your pre-teens with entertainment, socialization, computer skill development, and brain stimulating activities. Unfortunately, these socialization elements also open your pre-teens up to certain risks and dangers, such as becoming a victim of hacking or social engineering. Knowing how to protect your pre-teens and developing their own risk- aware skills is an essential part of safe online gaming.

Checking for appropriate content

Online games span many genres, from a hidden object game by iWin to MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. Pay close attention to the rating and types of content and concepts presented in the game your pre-teens are playing. Consider playing along with your children to see exactly what information your kids are picking up, as well as steering them to age appropriate games if the content is not suitable for them. The Entertainment Software Rating Board handles video game ratings, starting at EC for early childhood and going up to AO for adults only.

Checking for Chat rooms

Many online games have chat rooms or messaging functions to provide social interaction with other gamers. Online games with parental controls allow you to filter out bad language, block private messages, and control whether your child gets chat room capability or not. This is another way of ensuring your pre-teens aren’t exposed to inappropriate content. Some games also allow you to mute specific players if a particular individual is harassing your child.

Time Monitoring

The allure of online gaming makes it easy for your pre-teen to spend many hours playing all of the games at their disposal. Track the amount of time that they play through parental monitoring software. Some games, such as World of Warcraft, allow you to prevent an account from being played past a daily or weekly amount, or restricting the time of day that the child can log in. This helps you keep your kids happy with their favorite activities while not allowing it to take up all of their free time.

Avoiding Hackers

Online gaming portals provide hundreds of games through a single website. Some of these games play directly in the browser, while others are downloaded and installed on your computer. Keep the computer anti-virus running to avoid downloads and browser plugins with viruses and trojans attached. Read through gaming portal reviews to find legitimate sites, or check gaming magazines and blogs for this information. Check for https encryption when your child logs into the site, and handle downloadable game installations yourself to stop companion software, such as toolbars, from getting installed.

Check Game Emails

Some online game services send out emails informing players of new developments, specials, and updates. Phishers take advantage of this by posing as official game representatives and tricking users into providing account information. Monitor the email address your child used to sign up with a service, and screen any emails for phishing attempts.

Contributor: James Stewart

Tween Years: Not so bad afterall

As any parent can attest to, parenting is full of advice you never actually ask for. When you have your first child and they enter toddlerhood people endlessly warn you about the terrible two’s. You hear horror stories from friends, family, articles, and specialists about explosive tantrums and huge blowouts. As with most stories that get repeatedly built up time and time again, your actual experience is usually quite different. While there are problems, it never seems to be as bad as it was built up to be. Likewise, people are constantly talking about how difficult raising a tween is.

Just one search around the web for information on parenting tweens will uncover horrific anecdotes about hormonal preteens, shouting matches, and constant attitude. While you are certainly going to encounter plenty of events like these as a parent, these horror stories only obscure the great aspects of the tween years. There is more to tweens than just hormones and mood swings. It is during these crazy years that some of the best times in your parenting life occur.

Rather than focus on the negatives of raising a budding teenager, cherish these three aspects of your tween while you can.

1. They Are More Independent: Once our kids have left the child stage and entered the tween stage they begin to take on (and in many cases fight for) more independence. While in some instances this can cause tension for parents and their children, we should learn to utilize this independence in a way that benefits both ourselves and out tweens. Cherish that you no longer have to do everything for your child. You no longer have to wash their hair, tie their shoes, or pour their milk. As the parent of a tween, try to celebrate every new task that your child takes on. Let them take on some daily chores and do things for themselves. In many cases, your kids will be fighting for independence and responsibility so strongly, that having them prepare their own lunch in the morning or do the dishes at night can feel like a privilege for them. I know this sounds farfetched, but rather than fighting with your preteen about more independence why not celebrate it? Have your child take on more complex tasks at home. They will appreciate the trust you have in them and feel a sense of accomplishment when they complete the tasks.

2. They are Interesting: It is at this age that our kids begin to develop individual interests and hobbies. While it can be endearing to have your little one emulate all of your actions and interests, as many youngsters do with their parents, tweens begin to create their own individual personalities. Whether their interests are basketball or video games, music or horses, you can begin to see your child’s personality come out. This gives parents the opportunity to pursue a hobby with their child. Take an interest in what they are interested and inspired by. Use this as a way to grow with your tween and learn more about them. Watching your tween’s interests grow and evolve is one of the most exciting and fascinating aspects of parenting at this age.

3. They Get The Jokes: One thing that may cause many parents and teachers a bit of a headache are tweens’ newfound sense of irony and sarcasm. However, this more mature form of humor doesn’t have to be a bad thing by any means. Tweens are some of the most hilarious and creative comedians around. Use this age to laugh along with your tween. Play with words and puns, sarcasm and wit. Jokes that at one point might have gone completely over your child’s head are now funny and enjoyable for all parties involved. This is a great age to introduce your children to more mature movies and books. Find novels, books, movies, television shows that display a higher level of comedy and enjoy them with your kids.

Author Bio:
This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at online school about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5@ gmail.com.