New School Year Safety Tips

As with many people my wife and I start another year of high school with a teenager. We started at an early age to instill caution in her when it comes to anything on the internet or people communicating with her in real life. We encouraged her to ask questions, any questions before relying on the rumors or advice of her peers. As parents, we know that most of those peers know little about the truth and can often be misleading with advice. Sure, that meant we had to answer some awkward questions of a very young middle schooler, but we firmly believed that this advice kept her safe and well informed. 

I want to take this time to keep you up to date about things we’ve learned in the past when sending our child off to school or out into the world. Some of these tips you may already know, and I think that’s great! Some of these tips might surprise you, but I encourage you to try and adapt them to your own needs. As always, please reach out to me by whatever means you have and ask questions! Together we can make the world a better place for our little favorite people. 

Improve your home internet’s safety 

1. DNS filtering – Protecting your home network can be easy and free if you know where to look. There are several DNS filtering services out there. If you’re asking, ‘what’s DNS filtering”? You’re not alone. DNS in a nutshell looks at the name of a website and translates it to an IP address. This is a vital part of the internet since the internet only understands numbers when it comes to servers. So, in a nutshell, when someone on your WiFi tries to go to porn.com, the DNS filtering server sends them the wrong IP address. Here are a few options for DNS filtering: 
   • OpenDNS – Owned by Cisco, this free service is kept up to date by them and supported by paying customers. 
   • Adguard or PiHoled – Feeling a little nerdier and wanting to host your own DNS server? Look at either one of these options. Personally, I use Adguard and have been extremely happy with the results. Both are completely free. 

2. Secure your Wi-Fi – Keep your wireless password protected and use a secure password. I know this may go without saying, but attacks on your home network are possible and can lead to your devices such as cameras and assistance being compromised.  

3. No private devices – Keep your devices in a public spot or have an open-door policy. This is an old tactic, but it works! Keeping your family computer in a high trafficked area will allow you to keep an eye on what your kids are doing or at least see when they start hiding windows when you come around. 

4. Screen time – Most teenagers have a phone and any of your wireless policies or DNS settings won’t matter if they’re off on the mobile. You’re in luck though! Most manufacturers offer parental settings such as screen time. This will allow you to track activity and limit the time they can spend on their phone. Start this as early as possible as kids will notice when you set this up on their phone. 

Real life education

1. Education is the key – I cannot stress this enough. Educate your children! They are smart and will eventually find a way around any safeguards you put into place. That’s why you need to make sure they are at least equipped with the real-world knowledge you’ve obtained in this world before they came along. Be real with them and let them come to you with any questions, no matter how embarrassing it is for you to answer. Trust me when I say that they will thank you when they’re older. 

2. Established a password – Make a password that exists only between you and them. Make it a separate password for each of you. Mom has a password and so does dad. What is this password for? This password is to prevent those people trying to get to your child by using the classic line “please, come with me your mom was in an accident and I need to take you to her”. If that person is to be trusted, they will have the password, if not… scream as loud as possible! 

3. Contact information – With everyone having phones, knowing mom’s number hasn’t always been a priority, but without that phone could your child get in touch with you? Have them memorize at least one phone number of someone that’s always available. 

4. Situational awareness – The one thing I’ve always encouraged my child to do is be aware of their environment. Look around, don’t keep your face in the phone. Be able to look behind you to see if someone’s following you, look at the cars that park next to you. Listen to that little voice inside your head… It will keep you safe and warns you of situations that are potentially dangerous.  

Keep your kids safe and educated and they will come home to you. I know there are certain things in this world out of yours and their control, but my hope is that these tips and others on the internet will help open your eyes to some options to keep you safe. Good luck out there!