Parenting 

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Safety net - how to protect your child

Do you worry about the emails popping into your child's inbox? Can you be sure who they are from and what they contain? Short of sitting with your child each time they are online, the answer seems to be no.

How can you protect your children without compromising their growing independence? Safety vs. freedom is a balancing act all parents have to face. The problem is heightened when it comes to the Internet. The web is so vast and difficult to monitor that some parents feel that the only way to keep their kids safe is to keep them offline.

The main concern is when strangers can send messages to your child directly. But this can all change. Thanks to a brilliant web service by www.kidscom.co.uk your child can have an email account which is totally private to them but which you control.

Peace of mind for parents
The premise is simple. When you set up the account, you and your child agree on a list of authorised email addresses. When messages from these addresses' are sent to your child only he or she will be able to see them. If however, your child receives an email from someone not on the list it will be bounced to another account, which you control.

This means that if your child joins an inappropriate chatroom and is contacted, as a result, by another user via email, the message will go straight to you rather than your child.

Even if an ill-meaning adult sets up a kidscom.co.uk email account, claiming to be a child, they still could not contact other children without first being authorised by the youngster's parent or guardian.

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