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Getting Involved in Your Child's Online Activities
Aside from these tools, it's a good idea to take an active role in protecting your child from Internet predators and sexually explicit materials that are online. Here are some steps that can help you do that:
· Become computer literate and learn how to block objectionable material.
· Keep the computer in a common area, not in individual bedrooms, where you can watch and monitor your child.
· Share an email account with your child so you can monitor messages.
· Spend time online together to teach your child appropriate online behavior.
· Forbid your child from entering private chat rooms; block them with safety features provided by your Internet service provider or with special filtering software. Be aware that posting messages to chat rooms reveals your child's email address to others.
· Monitor your credit card and phone bills for unfamiliar account charges.
· Find out what, if any, online protection is offered by your child's school, after-school center, friends' homes, or any place where he or she could use a computer without your supervision.
· Take your child seriously if he or she reports an uncomfortable online exchange.
· Call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 if you are aware of the transmission, use, or viewing of child pornography online. Contact your local law enforcement agency or the FBI if your child has received child pornography via the Internet.
Prescription Drug Disposal
Abuse of prescription drugs to get high has become increasingly prevalent among teens and young adults. Past year abuse of prescription pain killers now ranks second—only behind marijuana—as the Nation's most prevalent illegal drug problem. The new Federal prescription drug disposal guidelines urge Americans to:
· Take unused, or expired prescription drugs out of their original containers
· Mix the prescription drugs with an undesirable substance, like used coffee grounds or kitty litter, and put them in impermeable, non-descript containers, such as empty cans or sealable bags, further ensuring that the drugs are not diverted or accidentally ingested by children or pets
· Throw these containers in the trash
· Flush prescription drugs down the toilet only if the accompanying patient information specifically instructs it is safe to do so
· Return unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs to pharmaceutical take-back locations that allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for safe disposal
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