Safe Chat Games for Kids
With technology evolving, more and more kids spend time at the computer, replacing board games and books with flashy online games, chat rooms and virtual friends. Online chat games allow kids to converse and network with other children of their age. When it comes to these chat games, parents need to be extra careful. Though it is fun and entertaining for young minds, the online world is full of malicious people who could harm your children.
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Safety
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According to A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, exploring the Internet expands a child's horizons; but kids can also "be exposed to dangers as they hit the road exploring the information highway." Kids are likely to "fall victim to computer-sex offenders who spend large amounts of time online, particularly in chat rooms." Offenders slowly gain their confidence by learning about the children's interests. They might further engage in sexually explicit conversations, secret meetings or collect pornographic images.
Monitor
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The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was created to help protect kids online, says Kidshealth.org. COPPA requires websites to incorporate their privacy policies on the websites and seek parental consent before collecting any personal information about the kids.
Kidshealth.org recommends parents to use online tools and monitor their children's activity online. Block inappropriate material coming to them from the net. Purchase and install safety filter software for efficient parental controls.
New York State Library recommends parents to effectively learn about the Internet. A recommended website parents can use to increase web-efficiency is GetNetWise.org.
Games
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Some online chat games have maintained a safe environment for kids.
Webkinz.com allows young children to explore their KinzChat area, where members can converse using pre-constructed sentences. They prohibit kids to type any words, making it a perfect experience for young children.
The KinzChat Plus area is where children send messages, using words from the included dictionary. The dictionary blocks all proper nouns, place of names and inappropriate language. If the message contains words not present in the dictionary, it turns red and is discarded.
ClubPenguin.com has a standard and ultimate chat zone for kids. The kids type messages in the standard chat zone that goes through a sophisticated filter. The filter blocks inappropriate words and phrases.
In the ultimate safe-chat mode, players with accounts use predefined phrases, words and emoticons to communicate. Members cannot type their own messages in this mode.
Moderators continuously monitor the players' safety on these websites. Members can report any inappropriate conversations. Members who violate chat rules are banned.
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