NetSmartz.org

Still confused about the "E for Everyone" and "T for Teen" ratings on your children's video games? Then check out the parent's guide released by the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). A Parent's Guide to Video Games, Parental Controls and Online Safety explains the current video game rating system and how to set-up parental controls on contemporary game systems. The guide also includes helpful tips from GamerDad, a.k.a. Andrew S. Bub, who maintains a popular blog about gaming with children.

To put these guidelines into practice in your home, consider taking advantage of the Family Discussion Guide provided. This section has a space for children to fill out a video games wish list and offers discussion questions for families. The most important step parents and guardians can take to protect their children while gaming is to know what their children are playing. Use the ESRB rating system to stay in the game when it comes to your children's safety.

My internship at NetSmartz was to be my first real job, and at first the idea did not make me extremely excited. As it turned out, I have loved every minute of working here. I have learned many things about the Internet, about safety, and about life. This internship has not scared me into not using the Internet, but it has taught me how to be safer while using the Internet. I have begun to more closely monitor what I post on my profile and what my friends post about me on my profile. I have also looked more closely at my friends' profiles and asked them to watch what they are posting online.

One of the most important skills I gained from my experience at NetSmartz was the ability to interview people. The other interns and I conducted "man on the street" interviews, stopping random people to ask them their opinion on social networking sites. The first couple interviews were extremely nerve-racking, but after a few stumbles though, I really started to get the hang of talking to people. I liked having the opportunity to talk to people I otherwise would have never talked to. It was a confidence booster knowing that I could just go up to someone and have a conversation with them! This was only one of the invaluable skills that I learned at NetSmartz and that will help me with my various leadership positions at school.

I would like to thank the people at NetSmartz and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for allowing me to have this once in a lifetime opportunity. I have met the most amazing people, and I have learned amazing new things. Because of this internship, I will be starting (with my twin sister, also an intern at NetSmartz) a new program at my school all about Internet safety. I am very passionate about this subject and I am excited for all the potential that this new program has to offer.

Katherine – NetSmartz Teen Intern

Coming into this internship I thought I knew the ins–and-outs of the Internet. Now I realize how important Internet safety is and that I should do my part by sharing the safety information I have learned with people I know at home. For example, some of my peers have no idea of the possible damage that they could do to their futures just by putting up one picture depicting inappropriate behavior. I'm not trying to say social profiles are bad—they have some really great advantages— but, teens need to learn how to be careful on them and anywhere else they might go online.

Working at NetSmartz has caused me to think about all my friends at home and how I can help them be safer online. As a result, my twin sister (also a NetSmartz Intern, or as the NetSmartz staff called us twinterns) and I have set up meetings with our high school principal to try to incorporate the NetSmartz program into our entire school district. I think that teens will respond to NetSmartz materials because they make learning about the Internet really easy and entertaining.

There is no better place to work as an intern than the NetSmartz Workshop. I gained professional skills and experienced some great team work while helping to produce the next Real-Life Story. I felt so welcomed by the NetSmartz team and will never forget this awesome experience. Twintern Out!

Kelly – NetSmartz Teen Intern