It is never too early to give some security recommendations! My first daughter became a fan of a book series called “Max & Lili”. Those comics books (only available in French if I’m not wrong) are written by Serge Bloch and Dominique de Saint-Mars.
Each volume focuses on a specific theme (around school, friends, family, social life etc..). Themes are covered following the same scenario: first experienced by children or the family, then avoided or at least discussed with their parents. The book ends with a few pages of questions for the children. The topics range from everyday to serious problems such as death of a grandfather, divorce, racketeering, abuse, alcoholism of a loved one … and, of course… Internet and its dangers!
My goal is certainly not to revive an old debate here but I read the book and found it quite “complete” regarding the issues my children might encounter. The number of topics covered by the book is quite impressive:
- Viruses
- Spam
- Phishing
- Instant Messenging
- Pornography
- Identifiy / personal data
- Blogs content (copyrights issues)
Each topics is explained with the right words fully understandable by the children. Finally, they discuss with their parents and decide to set up a clear usage policy of the family computer / Internet connection. A lexicon of technical terms is also available with clear definitions for children (or also parents who are not “computer aware” ;-)).
The book is available since 2006 and it is still up-to-date. It was published with the collaboration of the “Délégation aux usages de l’Internet” and the “Délégation interministérielle à la Famille” in France.
I’ve no idea if this collection is available in other languages. A good reference for all the French speaking parents…