This is a sponsored post written for Animal Jam, and Mom It Forward. I am excited to share my opinion of Animal Jam and different things parents can do to help keep kids safe online. Before I allow my children to play any games online, I play, which got me to thinking about things we should be doing to keep our kids safe online. Now, Animal Jam is an awesome online playground, and they word VERY hard to be sure our kids are safe while having fun playing, but there are also things we need to do as parent to protect our children’s physical safety and emotional wellbeing.
I used to be strict, and ONLY allowed my children to play educational games online. Recently I started allowing the two older girls to have a little fun online too, because they enjoy it, and the only way to teach them how to have fun online safely is by helping them. My oldest daughter Catie is allowed to do much more than the other kids, and Vayda she is earning the internet back as we speak. I allow my kids to have fun online, but they all know the moment a line gets crossed they lose it for a long time, and have to earn it back slowly. You have to be responsible to play online, and if my kids cannot follow a few rules I have in place to protect them, they have not business being online.
11 Tips To Keep Kids Safe Online
If you allow your children online, or have thought about making that move here are a few tips to help keep kids safe online.
Online Time
Allow you children “Online Time” for a certain amount of time each day. During this time they can play games, message friends, social network sites (if you allow), or read about something that interests them.
Rules
The online rules should be clear.
Monitor
As parents we have to monitor our children’s online time. You never know what kids can find online in the 10 minutes you were in the restroom. There is NOTHING wrong with checking to see what your children are doing. You can even change your browser to “No Browser History Erase” so you can see what your children are doing online.
Treat Each Child Different
My kids have the same basic online rules – no chatrooms, approved websites online, no sharing private information, etc. However, they also have their own. I don’t give my 16-year-old daughter the same rules as my 3-year-old, who is still only allowed to play educational games when mom is with her.
Communication
I am a firm believer that as parents we need to be sure we are approachable. I try to put myself in my kids place, and as myself if I was them would I feel comfortable talking to me about anything? I don’t want to be that parent that freaks out about everything to the point my kids are scared to talk to me becasue they might get into trouble. I’m still mom, they know we have rules, and there are consequences for breaking those rules, but they also know hiding things, and not being honest gets you into more trouble. A huge part of keeping kids safe online is communication. You want them to trust what you are telling them, and they need to know they can talk to your about anything they need.
Private and Public
Explain the difference between private and public information.
Cyberbullying
Talk to your children about ethical behavior online. Be sure they understand they shouldn’t talk about people, saying things that are not true, bully, or threaten other people. The golden rule applies online too; treat others as you wish to be treated. Teach your children about being a victim of cyberbullying too, what to do, and who to tell.
Tell parents or a trusted friend if they come across something that makes them feel uncomfortable online.
Meeting People
The internet isn’t a place for making friends. Be sure they understand they should never meet someone online, or respond to anyone they do not know. The “Stranger Danger” lesson should apply online too.
Privacy Settings
While your children are online, it’s okay to keep those privacy settings as high as they can go.
Passwords & Usernames
Never give out your passwords and usernames online.
Visit the Website First
I mentioned earlier that we recently started playing Animal Jam, which is awesome, but before I allowed my children to play Animal Jam I had to play. Okay, so it’s a lot of fun. So much fun that my children were sitting on the floor in my office pulling the, “Mom, are you don’t yet” card. I had to tell them I need to check our all the animals and be sure they were safe, lol. They totally are, and Animal Jam is loads of fun for kids of all ages.
Animal Jam couldn’t have come into our lives at a better time! We just got back from our family vacation, and the kids favorite part of the vacation was the zoo and aquarium. They are still excited about the animals, eager to learn more, and Animal Jam is the perfect game to help them, becasue hey playing a game and learning is WAY cooler than asking mom and dad.
About Animal Jam
Animal Jam is a fun, and safe place where kids can have fun learning about animals. If your child loves animals and being outside, Animal Jam is a game you should check out. Animal Jam is a creative and cool collaboration between National Geographic Society and Smart Bomb Interactive, and their goal is to give kids a fun, safe and exciting place to play online, while helping to inspire kids to explore and protect the outside world and the creatures in it.
I am in love with Animal Jam, almost as much as my kids are. It’s fun to play, regardless of what age you are. I love that my kids, who all love animals can learn about the natural world while playing with friends. My daughter has already got her three cousins playing Animal Jam, because she likes it so much. As a parent I love that it helps teach young children all about the natural world, and it’s loaded with awesome National Geographic videos, games, facts, and MORE!
Animal Jam Keeps Kids Safe Online
They have several great awards – Mom’s Choice Awards Honoring Excellence, 2012 National Parenting Publication Awards Gold Winner, The Readers Choice Awards 2011, and more. Parents, there is no need to worry about your kids running into advertising while they are playing on Animal Jam, because it’s free from outside advertising and adheres to a strict privacy policy. You can learn more about their privacy policy on their website at AnimalJam.com.
Animal Jam is safe, and allows children to explore, and have fun. They have awesome chat filters to in-game moderators, and it’s really cool how they give the children a voice, and allow them to speak up, and block other players. Animal Jam regularly produces educational content for players, as well as parents about digital citizenship and online safety, to help make Animal Jam safe, and show players how to be safe online. There is a video, I highly suggest parents to watch at AnimalJam.com, under the parents tap – Safety Video. You’ll quickly see they not only take safety serious, but want to create a fun, safe place for children to play online with their friends.
The above image is the picture of my cute pink and black tiger, which my girls love and decided to keep him that way. I also have a cute little pink and black turtle, but I am not going to tell the girls about him. It’s my secret weapon, lol.
My youngest daughter LOVES the Animal Jam printables. All my girls love animals, and we just got back from the zoo so they are extra pumped about Animal Jam’s free downloads that you can print, color, or share with friends.
Vayda is all excited about her Animal Jam game, because she adopted a little pet, who is red and yellow lol. Vayda actually let her little sister decorate her adopted animal. Who can complain, they are playing together right! Oh, and there is this part where you play dress up to earn more coins that my kids addicted to. You earn coins for dressing up your animal with other Animal Jam players and vote on which animal fits the theme better – sleepy, cutest, lazy, and different things.
Since we got home from our vacation, Vayda has played Animal Jam every chance she gets, and every time my husband and I turn around she is telling us something cool she learned, or Mattie is showing us another awesome printable she colored. I have to be honest, I was surprised how much educational content is provided. I didn’t realize until this morning that kids can even ask real scientists questions! Yes, they can actually ask people like Dr. Brady Barr (herpetologist) and Tierney Thys (marine biologist) questions. Man, and I thought them learning while they were collecting fun facts for their Journey Books was fun and cool.
All the educational content is free to get access to, even the Animal Jam Academy, which is a premier online resource center where children download cool activities to complete when they are not online. I purchased the membership for Vayda, because this is the first online game she has shown interest like this. She loves it, and when she has her online time it is the only game she wants to place.
My kids having the opportunity to be online is important to me, becasue I know this is the direction the world is moving. The more they learn as kids, the more it will help them later is life, and I am thankful for places like Animal Jam, because they give our children a safe place to play and learn.
If you are looking for a fun, educational game that will allow your children to have fun online in a safe place, and learn about something they live than I cannot recommend Animal Jam enough. We love it, and I liked it enough to purchase my daughter the membership, which is less than $6 a month.
Learn more about Animal Jam on their website – AnimalJam.com. You can also follow them on Facebook and .