How to be Safe on the internet by learning the skills

You can’t close your eyes anymore for the future to be. The internet has the future. And it is a scary future when you do not know anything about it as a parent. What can you do to protect your children from all those dreadful stories which are going around? You can’t forbid your child to use the internet anymore, they get assignments in school. How can you cope with that? How to be Safe on the Internet?

What is the internet?

The internet is just a collection of websites. Every page you enter in your browser is part of a website. Would you understand the internet better, when you had the knowledge of how a website is created?

When you can’t beat them, Join them!

Stay safe online through learning the skills.

When you have the know how it is easier to understand the pitfalls.

Knowledge is power.

When I went to the Open Education Days to look for a continuing education for my daughter, I already was studying on the Wealthy
Affiliate University. And I truly see the benefit of it, knowing my way around the computer and internet to be able to help my kids stay safe.

This picture was taken on the information day of one of the schools we visited:)
The text on it is in Dutch and it means

“Are you already online?”

How to be Safe on the Internet by Learning the Skills

Overcome your fear

I will tell you a story. Years ago, my oldest daughter had a total adoration for horses. We lived on a farm, and I loved sheep, calves, and chicken. But I really didn’t like to come near a horse. I stayed away and went around the animal in a big circle. She was 12 years of age and wanted so much to go to competitions.

Learn the rules

So I decided to go to the riding school, and I asked them, are there special lessons to follow for parents? I don’t want to learn to ride, I just want to get familiar with a horse. They helped me with the knowledge I needed to know. About how to walk with a horse, talk to a horse, how to get him into the trailer. But also, how to brush the hair. Crab and take care of the horseshoe. How to saddle him and to get in the bit. Everything I needed to know they taught me. And after a year, I said, Let’s go for a ride!

Learn the skills

As with the horse riding, it fits almost anything. If you want to support your children, you’d better keep up with the interests they have.
When they are playing soccer, you will learn the rules. When they are biking, you learn to repair bicycles. When they have a snake as a pet you learn about habitat and food. When they put films on YouTube, you do want to learn and know WHAT! And when they are surfing the internet, you learn about how they can surf it safe and useful.

What would you say if I offer you a complete education for the price of one McDonalds family meal a month?Two birds with one stone. Keeping your kids safe and sound.
You can learn everything you need to know, how to be safe on the internet.

Why a website?

As I said before, the internet is just a big library of nowadays booklets (websites). You can find anything you want on the internet. There is always someone who’s selling, telling and showing their interest, their knowledge, their hobby. Why wouldn’t you put your booklet on the shelf of the huge internet bookcase? Everybody has something to share and there will always be people who want to read about it.
Also, your children do interesting things, perhaps they do horseback riding, or like to cook or sail. Or perhaps your son knows everything about trains, tractors or tanks. There are as many niches as there are people.

If you are interested to read more about this free online education resource click the add below. It will lead you to another page here on this website and will explain all ins and outs.

And if you want to look inside the university community first, you can click on my picture, it will lead you to my profile on Wealthy Affiliate. I really hope to meet you on the other side, back in the school banks, where everything starts on the internet:)

Comments

How to be Safe on the Internet by Learning the Skills — 36 Comments

Chris on December 12, 2016 at 6:04 pm said:

Hmmm really interesting and at the same time, worrying article. I recently got overly confused by the security measures I could actually install on my laptop. For instance – what is your view on free ant virus options like avast or avg – should I be aiming for something paid to keep myself and my laptop protected online?

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- Loes on December 12, 2016 at 6:21 pm said:
  
  Hi Chris, I will tell you how I work, I have windows defender and nothing else. I place everything of any worth directly in the cloud. When I get a virus, I empty my computer and start over again. I believe that no program will keep stand when a hacker wants to get in. ThatÂ´s my 2 cents
  
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Margaret on January 19, 2016 at 7:43 am said:

Thanks for this post. The internet can be pretty scary when you are not sure what you are doing. Many people think everything on the internet is there to rip them off and that is a shame because it just isn’t true. I am eternally grateful that I found wealthy affiliate. I am learning the skills I need and with education you can overcome fear. Great post.

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- Loes on January 19, 2016 at 7:53 am said:
  
  Hi Margaret, have been searching and trying out a lot of things before I found WA, I know, I never leave again, I truly love the community, everybody is so lively, warm and helpful, see you back there, kind regards Loes
  
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Heather Grace on January 12, 2016 at 2:46 am said:

The internet can be a big and intimidating place, especially when trying to start a new business. I love that you broke it down in the way you did. So often we are just afraid of the unknown. If we just had someone to show us and guide us, then it would be less daunting.

Thank you for the great read!

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- Loes on January 12, 2016 at 11:30 am said:
  
  Hello Heather, thank you for your reaction and liking it, that’s exactly the reason why I am so happy to work in the safe environment of the Wealthy Affiliate University, it’s great to know and feel everything is secured. Kind regards, Loes
  
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Kristy on October 11, 2015 at 6:30 pm said:

Great post Loes. I love learning new things and feel that you’re never too old to learn something new. The best way to learn, for me, is to actually do it. There is so much to learn about the Internet and about creating a website… I really had no idea until I got involved in it. I highly recommend it to others as well.

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- Loes on October 11, 2015 at 7:03 pm said:
  
  Hello Kristy, thanks for recomanding my post, the moment you start a website, you find out there is much to learn, feel free to visit my tutorials, they are all free and include many handy tips, greetings Loes
  
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Chelsea on August 12, 2015 at 8:05 pm said:

Thank you for putting a page like this out there. A lot of people do not understand the internet in this way. It is a very informative page and I like your use of media and ads on this page. I think you did a wonderful job. I hope to see more of your site. I was thinking of making a page for WA but I wasn’t sure where to start. I hope to use this page as inspiration for my site thank you and good luck.

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- Loes on August 12, 2015 at 9:15 pm said:
  
  Hi Chelsea, there are quite a lot of strange people on the internet. Of course you are welcome to visit my website for inspiration, you are free to bookmark it, Loes
  
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Jim on August 12, 2015 at 7:40 pm said:

Thank you for this article. I’ve been more and more concerned about my kids learning to stay safe online lately.

Seems that there are a lot of people out there preying on folks that don’t know how to stay safe, especially kids.

I recently found my son doing a simple search for car washes and I was shocked at the content came up. He also was looking for street sweepers (the kind that clean your street) and a bunch of gun videos popped up.

Sigh. I’ve since learned how to teach him how to filter for age appropriate stuff.

Great article. Thanks.

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- Loes on August 12, 2015 at 9:14 pm said:
  
  Hi Jim, you are right, you have to be careful. When your children are looking online for information. The beautiful lady names from Disneys fairytail will popup also quite a few unexpected stuff. Loes
  
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Chris on July 29, 2015 at 4:18 pm said:

Well I think it’s very much a learning curve – staying safe online! Even now I make the odd mistake and end up kicking myself for what I’d just done!
The more time you spend online the more chances you will make some sort of mistake. Great article – I love the clothes line pic of you and your daughter 🙂

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- Loes on July 29, 2015 at 4:33 pm said:
  
  You made me smile, Chris. The clothes line pic is made through students on an open day of a highschool. We where hunting for a new education for my daughter. They where very creative in the question “Are you already online?” Yes it is important to learn the skills 🙂 Offline and online!
  
  Loes
  
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Nicola@cancersavvy.com on July 23, 2015 at 6:44 pm said:

Wealthy Affiliate sounds interesting and I will definitely take a look. But I am sceptical that it can take someone who knows nothing about websites or website design and make them into a internet entrepreneur. Has this been your actual experience? What success stories can you show me to convince me that this is the way to go?

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- Loes on July 24, 2015 at 7:52 am said:
  
  Hello Nicole, good questions, of course I can’t speak for others, however, when I look around on Wealthy affiliate, I see people from all over the world, and of all ages, from children until 75+. This tells me this course is really a step-by-step training and doable for everyone who understands basic English. Besides that, I can’t answer your question about success stories, because success is for everybody different. The one thinks it is a success if they have a website online to spread their message, while others find it a success only if they earn $ 10,000 per month with their websites. I can tell you there are both of those categories at Wealthy Affiliate and everything in between. I hope to see you someday on our “Premisis” 🙂 Greetings Loes
  
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Olive on July 6, 2015 at 9:57 am said:

Hi Loes

What an Aladdin ‘s cave you have here. I love your site and it is esp great that you offer so much free stuff!!

I also set up my own online business in 2014 and I knew nothing about wordpress. I wish I had found your site then – it would have saved me a lot of heartache.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

How is your business going? It takes time..!

Olive

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- Loes on July 6, 2015 at 10:05 am said:
  
  Hi Olive, so nice to see you here:) Working on my business everyday, it’s growing. When I see the results from the last year, I do better and better. You are very welcome to come back anytime, have a nice day, Loes
  
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admin on July 2, 2015 at 3:38 pm said:

I did not intend to ask any one who is this, I guess Loes and I was right. Wealthy Affiliate is something that I encourage anybody with intentions to start any type of online business to join in and start to realize its fruits. As stated early in this blog websites are free as long as you are a premium member.
Loes just to ask is one required to know coding and lastly who are the builders for wealthy affiliate. Never mind just to ask.
Divican

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- Loes on July 2, 2015 at 3:58 pm said:
  
  Hi Divican, I am also very content about the training Wealthy Affiliate offers, and to answer your question, NO you do not need to know anything about coding:) It’s just my hobby to find all kind of tricks possible to add to websites. If you have any more questions, please ask, see you around, greetings Loes
  
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Lynne on June 30, 2015 at 9:11 am said:

This Wealthy Affiliates sounds interesting, I’ll have a look. Are you sure anyone can do it regardless of what they know about websites?
I worry about internet safety with regards to my children (they are small still) but in the future, there is so much they can get up to and so many things to keep them away from!

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- Loes on June 30, 2015 at 9:22 am said:
  
  Hello Lynne, I am very sure anyone can follow the step-by-step training course, I meet here children from 12-13, staying at home Moms, people in their 70th, from all layers of citizenry and from all countries. Besides that, the English is easy to follow for not native English speakers too. And when you get to know the ropes, you can assist your children. I just switched over to a smartphone, just to keep up with them on what’s app 🙂
  
  If you have any further questions, you can reply or visit my FAQ page.
  
  Have a nice day Lynne, greetings Loes
  
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Dean on June 29, 2015 at 8:29 pm said:

Hello Loes,

Your post brings me back in year 1999. when I was graduating at secondary school. We have to write theme about something and one of themes was about positive and negative aspects of the internet.

For someone internet can become an enemy, for someone very good friend.

I found very interesting what did you written about learning the skills. That Wealthy Affiliate sounds good.
I did a lot of researches in my life but never heard about it.

Do I need to know how to code to create a website in that Wealthy Affiliate?

Regards,

Dean

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- Loes on June 29, 2015 at 8:47 pm said:
  
  Hello Dean, through the years, Google became my best friend:) Wealthy Afffiliate is ideal for beginners, you do not need any coding at all for writing your website. But you can use it if you want to, when you are more advanced and like to play around with coding. Besides that, you can open a free account and see if it fits your expectations. I advice you to read my FAQ page. Perhaps I will see you later:) I’ll be there, greetings Loes
  
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Alexx on June 29, 2015 at 8:22 pm said:

Hi Loes! Wow this site has such a lot of great information. I don’t have kids but I love the idea that parents would get as informed as their children so that they can attempt to “parent the internet”. I also saw your site builder review and it was amazingly detailed and comprehensive. I will absolutely refer people with kids to this site! -Alexx

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- Loes on June 29, 2015 at 8:39 pm said:
  
  Well thank you Alexx, it’s a great compliment you will send people over, you’re welcome to surf around, my advice, look at the page cool amazing website tools, the are all free to use, see you around, greetings Loes
  
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andrzejbialoszewski on June 29, 2015 at 8:21 pm said:

Lovely story)) It is a true that lack of knowledge wakes up fears..But the fact is that you have somebody to show you the real side of things…and you need to be careful as there is plenty people trying just to rip you off. Wealthy affiliate gives you a chance to have look what it is all about for free!!

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- Loes on June 29, 2015 at 8:56 pm said:
  
  Hi there:) Andrzej….ki, thanks for your reply, when they want you to pull out your creditcard, without any transparent view around, you would be wise to skip the deal. You also don’t buy shoes on the internet without seeing the picture and knowing the size. As you say, Wealthy Affiliate is totally transparent, and offers you next to the free account, also a free premium trial. Really good program they serve. Loes
  
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Brenda on June 29, 2015 at 8:14 pm said:

As parents our number one objective is to keep our children safe and free from harm. You are so right in saying that to protect them we need to know what their interests are and what they are doing. This is paticularly true when it comes to the Internet. There are so many faceless threats on the Internet that can lead your child down the wrong path if you do not watch him closely.

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- Loes on June 29, 2015 at 8:32 pm said:
  
  That’s just it Brenda, there is so much going on at the internet, and when you do not know your way around as parent, you just lose the overview. It’s good to keep up with the perception of your children, thanks for your reply, greetings Loes
  
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Marilyn on June 29, 2015 at 6:19 am said:

This is very well put Loes! I love the way you used such cool examples to make it very clear about how you need to try and keep one step in front of your kids!

I agree its a really scary thing to be a parent, hearing awful stories of things that can happen via the internet. I can remember how difficult it was to “police” what my son was doing online.

I think this post will help parents to understand they can be better informed. Well done and thanks!

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- Loes on June 29, 2015 at 6:57 am said:
  
  Hi Marilyn, thanks you for your reply, as I said, if you can’t beat them, join them. You have to be educated to be able to lead your children. My schooling 40 years ago, didn’t include chemistry, and I really can’t assist my children with assignments. The same as my mother couldn’t assist me with foreign languages. And it is very nice there is a step-by-step online education to help increase the knowledge about internet, because ignorance leads to unfounded fears, I hope to reach parents and give them the opportunity to learn the skills, Loes
  
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  - Marilyn on July 1, 2015 at 5:24 am said:
    
    I hope you can too Loes. You are quite right in what you are saying. Kudos to you! Educating our young ones should be our top priority.
    
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    - Loes on July 1, 2015 at 7:46 am said:
      
      Hi Marilyn, When you get the know-how, your fear about how your children will survive the world of internet will be a lot less. You then are able to assist them how to be safe on the internet 🙂 For me that makes a lot of sense, greetings Loes
      
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Peter on June 29, 2015 at 6:08 am said:

Yes I totally agree with the concept of learning about the internet is like ‘riding horse’ It can seem big and scary and could easily take YOU for a ride and throw you off HARD if you don’t know how to control it. Great analogy and yes what a great way to keep your children / grandchildren safe by understanding the internet yourself. As you say you can learn it for very little money and pointing your readers in the direction of Wealthy Affiliate is great thing to do as there are so many scams and ripoff out there it is hard to know what is good and what is not. However Wealthy Affiliate is one of the best internet training programs online. Good work and keep on helping people with posts like this. 🙂

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- Loes on June 29, 2015 at 7:05 am said:
  
  Horse riding Peter? Nice equation:) I have been to lessons for horses riding too, at least to learn how to handle a horse. Because one of my children had an adoration for horses. And when we dicided to buy her one, I went to the riding school to learn the skills. That’s the way parents should learn the skills for online pursuits to. Learn the skills so you know how to handle things properly.
  
  Greetings Loes
  
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