Tweens spreading their wings early on Internet

This News By You article was submitted by Susan Anable of northeast Phoenix. Anable is director of government affairs with Cox Communications, and she and her husband, Mike, are parents of 11- and 8-year-old children.

Back when I was a kid, my working mom would call the house at 3:30 each day to make sure her latchkey kids had safely made the half-mile walk home from school.

Now it is me anxiously waiting each day to hear from my 11-year-old son - via text message, of course - that he has arrived home safely from school. My real fears begin the minute the pantry raid is over and my son logs on to the Internet.

Although there is great information and entertainment for kids on the Internet, the dangers that lurk in cyberspace are every bit as real to my kids as the creepy neighborhood predator my parents worried about 30 years ago.

Fortunately, I know something about tween Internet use, because I work at Cox Communications and I'm the mother of an 8-year-old as well as that 11-year-old.

Cox recently conducted a nationwide Tween Internet Safety Survey to help families use our services wisely and safely. (Tweens are defined as children ages 8 to 12 years old.)

As a parent, I found the survey results eye-opening and helpful as I try to stay ahead of the Internet lingo curve and all of the new social networks that are opening more and more doors into my kids' lives.

This survey found that 90 percent of tweens surveyed are online by age 9, that 34 percent of 11- and 12-year-olds have a profile on a social networking site like Facebook, and that 28 percent of tweens have been contacted over the Internet by someone they don't know.

Most tweens in the survey report that Mom and Dad have talked to them "a lot" about Internet safety and that most say they tell Mom and Dad at least some of what they do online. Not a huge surprise; older children tend to tell their parents less.

The dangers to tweens on the Internet are real, but if we pay attention there can be a happy medium for kids and parents. Kids should be allowed to explore the amazing learning and entertainment opportunities on the Net, but we as parents need to be armed with information, such as the list of tween Internet chat lingo on Cox's Web site, www.cox.com/takecharge.

Trust me, every parent needs to know what "nifoc" means in Internet chat lingo. The Web site also has also some great advice for a discussion with your tween about how long their Internet sessions should last, what they can do online, whom they're allowed to interact with and why they should be concerned about identity theft.

Here are just a few ideas on how to keep your kids safe:

• Look daily at the Internet history on your child's computer.

• Put the computer in the family room where you all hang out.

• Talk with your tween about spam and make sure they know to never open attachments from someone they don't know.

• Make sure they know not to turn off the anti-virus software just to make the computer run a little faster.

• Set up Internet filters and talk about the dangers of chat rooms.

Gone are the days when you could stop worrying when your kids get home safely. Because of technology, the world is an open portal to our homes, and our tweens are spreading their wings and flying through cyberspace. Let's make sure we have done our part to help bring them home safe.

To see the complete Cox Tween Internet Safety Survey results, visit www.cox.com/takecharge.