There exist real-life threats at the root of all threats likely to be encountered on the Internet. All risk topics existing in terms of the Internet are situations that can also be encountered in real life. Therefore, just as we strive and set rules to protect our children from all these dangers in real life, we can minimize the risks of the virtual world by learning to use the internet consciously, safely and effectively, and by teaching this to children. We can offer our children the contributes such as education, communication and spending quality time as an opportunity.

Some of the suggestions for families to ensure safe internet and computer use for children of different age groups are as follows:

Today, the use of information and communication technologies by most children is more advanced when compared to their parents. It is essential that parents be knowledgeable about internet and computer technologies, and that, if they do not have enough knowledge on this subject, they develop themselves, and that learn, at least, to use the internet at a level that they can direct and supervise their children.

Just as some rules are set for children in real life, it is necessary to set rules in virtual environment as well.

Parents should set some rules, give advice, and follow them while they are in virtual environment, so as to support the child's conscious use of the Internet and protect them from harms of the Internet. While these rules vary depending on the age of the child, it is necessary to monitor whether the rules are observed or not and to ensure that the rules are observed.

Families should use up-to-date antivirus, filter and firewall applications on their computers to protect children from internet dangers.

Antivirus, filter and firewall programs protect the computer against viruses, spam and malware that may come from outside. But parental control, on the other hand, includes some applications enabling families to filter harmful content, to determine the time children spend on the Internet, to monitor the sites they connect to, and to determine what kind of things children do on these sites.

In addition, it is necessary to generalize the Secure Internet Service offered by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ITA), and infrastructure of which is created by access providers, and that families should use the most appropriate profile, for themselves, of this service, especially on computers that are used by children. By the help of this service, families can have the opportunity to be protected and protect their children, upon demand and free of charge, from pornographic sites, drug trafficking sites, violent sites, sites broadcasting on racism and hate crimes, sites with the contents of stories about committed crimes and terrorist propaganda sites, which are among the negative content of the internet especially for their children. You can access detailed information about the service from the Safe Internet Service included in this section.

Parents should encourage their children to let them know when something or someone online is making their children feel uncomfortable or threatened.

When faced with such an event, families should be calm and remind their children that they will not have a problem if they notify such things to them. Their behavior should be appreciated and they should be encouraged to come back to their families again when the same thing happens again.

Some of the suggestions for families to ensure safe internet and computer use for their children of different age groups are as follows:

Children Between the Age Group from 2 to 6;

In this period, which is also called the preschool period, children love to research, learn something new and are curious about everything. Furthermore, this is the period when children are most active. In this period, which we can call the beginning level in the use of ICT for children, the use of computer and internet should be in very limited times, and should be carried out together with parents. Children can view picture albums, with their parents, created on the computer, browse websites that are made in accordance with their ages, and play games that are appropriate for their ages. Moreover, for children in this age period;

• The time to be spent in front of the computer should not exceed one or two hours and it should be ensured that children comply with this limitation.
• Parents should not leave children in this age group alone on the computer or internet, and should be with them at all times.
• It should not be forgotten that children in this age period are play children. Therefore, they may be allowed to use computers and the internet and play games on the computer, on condition that they are under the supervision of their parents. However, for the healthy development of the child, it should be supported to allocate proportional times together with other activities in the life of the child.

Children Between the Age Group from 7 to 10;

Children in this age group are more knowledgeable about the internet experiences; however, it is useful to monitor and inspect their usage of the internet to find out if they are exposed to inappropriate content or not. Children in this age group should be made sure to understand kind of what personal information they should not give others while they are in the internet. Moreover, children at the age from 7 to 10 generally tend to exhibit prohibited behaviors. For children in this age group;

• The time to be spent in front of the computer should not exceed an hour or two hours. It should not be forgotten that the primary school period is the time for children to participate in games or peer groups. This is a requirement for children to socialize. For this reason, the time, which children spend for other activities (games to be played with friends, study, etc.) should be much more than the time, which is spent in front of the computer.
• The computer should be placed in the common use area of the family in a place where all family members can see it very easily.
• An agreement should be made with children about what types of sites they can visit, and the drawbacks should be explained instead of prohibiting. 
• Families should encourage children to use search engine (such as Google Safe Search for Kids), which are suitable for children, or with feature of control by parents so as to browse the Internet, or the settings of the search engine used should be selected at a high level of security.
• Parents should get an e-mail account for the family and use those accounts with their children instead of letting their children have their own e-mail accounts. Therefore, parents can have information about people with whom children communicates.
• Parents should advise their children in this age group to be consulted on all matters (who they are in contact with, people they want to communicate with and the negativities they encounter) while using the internet communication tools (such as e-mail, message boards and forums). In addition, an e-mail filter should be used against potential harmful content that come with in e-mails to be opened.
• Parents should already start to educate their children at this age about privacy and the importance of personal data on the internet and explain them that they should not give any information about themselves or their families wherever they access the internet.
• It is the rightest thing to do for families not to allow children in this age group to use social networks on the internet. However, they may be allowed to enter internet chats on children's sites and chat friendly under the supervision of the parent in order to satisfy curiosity of children.
• Families should explain to their children in this age group that it is not correct to download any file (such as music, picture files and computer games) without their permission, and that their computer can be infected by viruses and spyware in this way.
• Just as parents explain to their children the types of people who can harm them at school, around them and in the activities, they participate in, they should openly explain the dangers that may come from the internet environment as well.
• Parents should tell their children that everything written and displayed in the online environment may not always be correct, and that there may be well-intentioned people as well as ill-intentioned people in the virtual environment, too as in real life, and parents should make them feel that they can talk to their parents easily in any situation where they are confused.
• It should be explained them that the source of the information found while doing homework and research on the Internet should be shown, and that they should not download movies, music and game files illegally, otherwise that all these are a kind of theft. There are many different places on the internet where software, movies, games and music can be downloaded, for free, or for a small fee. Families should provide a budget for music, games, and other software, and direct their children to the right web sites so that their children are not directed to illegal downloads. 

Children Between the Age Group from 10 to 13;

In this period, which is also known as the pubescence period, children are constantly in research and inspection because they want to know everything. Since they are aware of the possibilities and innovations offered by the internet, they want to use these opportunities to the fullest. In other words, very rapid changes can occur in children during this period. If these changes are channeled to good, beautiful and true behaviors in the internet environment as in other fields, it will be beneficial for the mental development of children. Otherwise, it is possible for children to encounter negativities such as pornography and activities of criminal enterprises on the internet. Although the dependence on parents continues in children at the age group from 10 to 13, a desire to act independently as much as possible can also be observed. For children in this age period;

• The time to be spent in front of the computer should not exceed two or three hours.
• Although it is difficult with developing mobile technologies, the computer should be placed in the common use area of the family. Although children in this age group are slowly starting to declare their freedom, and even if they insist to want the internet to be in their own rooms, no compromise should be made in this regard.
• Children should use search engines specifically designed for children (such as Google Safe Search for Kids) or with parental control so as to surf in the Internet.
• Parents should teach their children at this age not to give information about themselves and their families while using internet communication tools (such as e-mail, message boards and forums). In addition, an e-mail account can be opened for children in this age group on their behalf, provided that parents can check them whenever they want. In the e-mail account opened, the e-mail filter must be active against bad undesired bad contents.
• Parents should teach their children in this age group that it is not right to download any file (such as music files, computer games, pictures) from the internet without their permission.
• Parents should inform their children in this age group that they should comply with ethical behaviors in the internet environment as in the real world, and educate them not to use the internet against others as a harmful tool.
• Parents should encourage their children to let them know when something or someone online is making them feel uncomfortable or threatened. When faced with such an incident, families should be calm and remind their children that they will not have a problem if they inform such things to themselves immediately. Their behaviors should be appreciated and they should be encouraged to come back to their families again when the same thing happens once more.
• Families should talk to their children about healthy sexuality against internet pornography that their children may encounter while using the internet, at home, at their friends' home, at school or at an internet cafe.
• Parents should be aware of their children's and their friends' online activities and talk to their children about their online friends and their online activities.
• Although families remind their children that the minimum age for accessing social networks is 13, but when they want to enter social networks before the age of 13, they should open an account together as a guide, and parents should remind them of the rules to be obeyed in this network, and that only people known by their families should be added to the list of friends. Furthermore, it is important to know the password used by children on social networks and to be checked regularly.
• Parents should remind their children that meeting face-to-face with people who they have met online is dangerous.

  Children Between the Age Group from 14 to 16 (Teenagers);

For children in this age period, which is described as transition from childhood to youth, the importance of the group of friends, with which they are in a relationship, increases and children consult them in performance of many activities and act upon giving their approval. In addition, in this period, it is possible to see behaviors such as not consulting parents on any issue, not meeting their expectations, acting independently in any issue, being open to new ideas, and incompatibility of family values with those specific to their ages.

It is very difficult for parents to help their children in this age group about the internet and computer technology, because they generally have more information about the use of the internet and computer than their parents do. For this reason, it is essential that parents be very careful with their children in this age group. Otherwise, it is a possibility that children may be exposed to online dangers (such as sexual abuse, pornography, activities of criminal enterprises) in the internet or to become internet addicts.

For children in this age period;

• Families should remind their children that they should not add people they do not know to their friends list while they are on social networks, and they should also be a member of these networks and be on their children's friends list and children should be followed from there.
• Parents should check their children's privacy settings on social networks. It should not be forgotten that, if their accounts and profiles on social networks are open to everyone, this case poses a huge risk to the safety of children.
• Parents should give information their children in this age group about internet chats. In addition, in order to satisfy children's curiosity, they may be allowed to have short-term Internet chats with people known to them and their families (classmates, relatives, etc.).
• Parents should have information concerning which internet web pages their children are visiting. 
• Parents should explain, with their reasons, to their children at this age that they should not give information about themselves and their families while using internet communication tools (such as e-mail, message boards and forums). Furthermore, children at this age can open an e-mail account on behalf of themselves, provided that their parents can check them at any time. In the e-mail account opened, an e-mail filter must be used against undesired bad contents.
• Parents should inform their children in this age group that ethical behaviors should be observed in the internet environment, too as in the real world, and should educate them so that they do not use the internet as a means to harm others.
• Parents should inform and warn their children about cybercrimes (such as terrorism, activities of criminal enterprises, pornography, gambling and betting).
• Parents should talk to their children about healthy sexuality against internet pornography that their children may encounter while using the internet, at home, at their friends' home, at school or at an internet cafe.
• Parents should remind their children that meeting face-to-face with people who they have met online is dangerous.
• Parents should teach their children to be responsible in the online environment. They should teach them about copyrights and not to violate those copyrights in terms of such issues as file sharing, getting texts / article, using images or artworks.
• Families should make sure that their children are not online late at night. Ill-intentioned people (outside of working hours) can reach young people more easily during these hours and try to lure them into their traps.