I am a mother of four children. My older son and daughter are studying at universities away from home. My other two children, a son and another daughter aged seven and nine respectively, miss their older siblings. I want them all to communicate through the internet so that they remain well connected. Where can I get a safe email service for the younger kids?
Protect your child from internet hazards
- Thread starter kristi.jimi
- Start date
Not really a writing for kids question. I'm going to port this to our tech forum. The people there will have helpful answers.
When our kids (who are now "adult kids") left for college, we created a Yahoo Group where we could email, share pictures, provide them with their vaccination records or other somewhat sensitive information, even chat (although that didn't work for everybody, since the kids' massive bandwidth was shared with many other users). Assuming your younger kids' computer use is in plain sight, this might be a good option for your family, allowing them to spend as much time at your family's group as they want so they can stay connected to their distant siblings.
We encouraged everybody to share whatever interested them, from jokes to pictures of their dorm rooms or silly links. (You'd want your older kids to be mindful of the little ones' limits, of course.) We have some amazing pictures of The Kid with her waist-length hair in a sleep-induced knot, and one of Kid Two in drag. (So pretty--not!)
Many times we sent pictures of home to various homesick kids so they could see their rooms (still in shambles, just as they'd left them), the turkeys at the bird feeder, the huge icicle hanging off the gutter, or the birthday cake they could not share.
We still use our Yahoo Group, although we're in less-constant touch now. It's the fastest way to send this-made-me-laugh material to the family without intruding on their time.
Maryn, hoping this has some potential for your situation
We encouraged everybody to share whatever interested them, from jokes to pictures of their dorm rooms or silly links. (You'd want your older kids to be mindful of the little ones' limits, of course.) We have some amazing pictures of The Kid with her waist-length hair in a sleep-induced knot, and one of Kid Two in drag. (So pretty--not!)
Many times we sent pictures of home to various homesick kids so they could see their rooms (still in shambles, just as they'd left them), the turkeys at the bird feeder, the huge icicle hanging off the gutter, or the birthday cake they could not share.
We still use our Yahoo Group, although we're in less-constant touch now. It's the fastest way to send this-made-me-laugh material to the family without intruding on their time.
Maryn, hoping this has some potential for your situation
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Re: Protect your child from internet hazards .
That is indeed a wonderful thought. There could not be a better way to stay connected with your near and dear ones than the internet. www.kidsemail.org is an excellent option for you. It provides email services especially for children with unique features like parents can log into their child’s email account, parents can get copies of outgoing and incoming mails of their children, and many such features. These will help parents keep a watch on their child’s internet activities.
That is indeed a wonderful thought. There could not be a better way to stay connected with your near and dear ones than the internet. www.kidsemail.org is an excellent option for you. It provides email services especially for children with unique features like parents can log into their child’s email account, parents can get copies of outgoing and incoming mails of their children, and many such features. These will help parents keep a watch on their child’s internet activities.
You don't neccesarily need a "safe email service". Unsavory characters contacting your children and spam usually come about when the email address itself gets known to those people. So teach your kids on what one can and cannot share over the internet and with who so the address doesn't become public in the first place. This link should give you some ideas.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/tech/safe_surfing/newsid_1607000/1607213.stm
The Yahoogroup sounds like a good idea...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/tech/safe_surfing/newsid_1607000/1607213.stm
The Yahoogroup sounds like a good idea...