A family online agreement is a set of rules for home Internet use. An online agreement should offer your kids clear guidelines on:

• Where they can go online, and what they can do there
  
  
• How much time they can spend on the Internet
  
  
• What to do if anything makes them uncomfortable
  
  
• How to protect their personal information; stay safe in interactive environments; and behave ethically and responsibly online

The key to making an agreement truly effective is to get your kids' input. Before you start drafting, do some research and find out from your kids:

• What online activities do they like? Do they enter contests, take quizzes or fill out surveys? Do they download music files, games or software? Do they like having conversations in chat rooms or through instant messaging?
  
  
• Where do they like to go online, and what do they do there? Ask your kids to show you their favourite Web sites, the chat rooms they visit, and their contact lists for instant messaging.
  
  
• How do they find their way around the Internet. Do they rely on hyperlinks from other sites, or do they prefer to use search engines? If so, which ones? Ask them why they prefer one search site rather than another, and how they formulate their searches.

Now that you know your kids' online interests and activities, you're ready to create a family online agreement that outlines the rights and obligations of computer use in your household. Print out the agreement, and keep it by the family computer to remind everyone of the house rules. Review it regularly, and update it as your kids grow older.

Sample family situations and online agreements

Joy and Stephen Smith have three children: Holly is 7, David is 9 and Justin is 14. Holly loves anything to do with space, and David thinks dinosaurs are really cool. There are no museums in the Smiths' small town, so Holly and David like to explore the Internet to learn more about their interests.

Holly's favourite Web site is the Canadian Space Agency's site called KidSpace. David searches all over the Web for dinosaur Web sites, newsgroups and games. Justin uses the Internet for homework, chatting with friends and downloading music.

Because Joy and Stephen both work full time, they're not always around to supervise their kids' Internet use. That job often falls to their babysitter, Marjory. The parents decided that a family online agreement would be useful for her to refer to as well, so they sat down with their kids to draft one - or rather two: they came up with one agreement for the younger children, and a separate one for Justin, the teenager.

Holly and David's online agreement

• Mom, Dad or Marjory always has to be with us when we go on the Internet.
  
  
• We're allowed on the Web for one hour on school nights, but only after we've done our homework and cleaned up the supper table. Holly gets to surf on Mondays and Wednesdays, and David gets to do it Tuesdays and Thursdays.
  
  
• For search engines to find Web sites, we will only use two: Berit's Best Sites for Children or Yahooligans!
  
  
• When searching for information online, we will only use these filtered search engines: Ask Jeeves for Kids or KidsClick!
  
  
• We will not give out any personal information online without Mom or Dad's permission.
  
  
• Only Mom or Dad can download our email. They will tell us if we have any new mail in the family mailbox.
  
  
• If we get any email from a stranger, we will tell Mom or Dad right away. We won't open it without their permission.
  
  
• We are only allowed to use monitored chat rooms, and Mom or Dad must be with us when we're chatting.
  
  
• We must never be rude or mean to anyone online.
  
  
• We will always check with Mom or Dad before downloading software or games from the Internet.

We promise to follow the rules in this family online agreement. If we break them, we understand that we will not be allowed on the Internet at all for one week.

Justin's online agreement

• The maximum I can be online for fun is one hour on weekdays, and two hours on weekends. There is no time limit when using the Internet for homework.
  
  
• I will not buy or sell anything over the Net without my parent's permission.
  
  
• I will tell my parents before downloading any games, music files or software from the Internet.
  
  
• I will not visit gambling sites or sites containing offensive or illegal material.
  
  
• I will not disable any filtering software my parents install on the computer.
  
  
• I will not open any email or files from strangers.
  
  
• Before I give out any personal information to a Web site, I will read its privacy policy to make sure it will not share my info with a third party.
  
  
• I will only use monitored chat rooms for teens, and will always stay in the public area rather than going off into private rooms with strangers.
  
  
• On instant messaging, I will only talk to people I have met in person.
  
  
• I will always behave responsibly and ethically when online. I will always use Netiquette when using instant messaging, chat rooms and email.
  
  
• If I ever arrange to meet an Internet friend in person, I will tell Mom and Dad; and one of them will accompany me to the meeting.
  
  
• I will tell my parents right away if I get into any kind of trouble on the Net, or if I feel uncomfortable in any situation.

I promise to follow the rules in this family online agreement. If I break them, I understand that I will not be allowed on the Internet at all for one week.