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You are here: Home > Information > Our Chain of Command > WiredKids WiredKidsWiredKids is more than just a Web site. It's a fun place where children, teens, parents and teachers can learn about online safety and privacy. They can join the WiredKids safety programs and chat under the watchful eyes of WiredPatrol moderators. We have something for everyone. For parents there are guidelines for everything from how to know when their child is ready to chat to what the latest information is about software filtering programs. There is also a special section for teachers and school administrators; it includes information and guidance on a variety of topics such as acceptable use policies, COPPA and FERPA (congressional acts to protect children) in U.S. schools, and how kids can make the best use of the Internet in their classrooms. This organization also teaches educators how to minimize online risks and liability. WiredKids loves teachers! WiredKids has resources for librarians as well. Librarians often use WiredSafety's STAR-approved sites. They have learned that providing great resources and guidelines for kids is often the best way to help children and teens surf safely. Much of the information on the site comes from Parry Aftab's best-selling book for parents on online safety, titled "The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace." However, most important of all is that WiredKids is the best place for kids and teens to learn about being safe and protecting themselves and their privacy while online. This is the place on the Internet for children to learn in their own language. They can also participate in activities that help them to understand the safety rules. All this takes place in a secure environment where a username and password are needed in order to participate. Parents and schools need to provide approval before a child can join. WiredKids also encourages kids to teach safety rules to their families and peers. WiredKids teaches children and teens about responsible surfing. Teaching them the consequences of sending malicious codes and viruses to others online, demonstrating how to respect others and their property online and providing examples of good online netiquette is as important as teaching them how to protect themselves online. WiredKids AdministrationWiredSafety.org operates the WiredKids site and programs. WiredKids directors are a part of the executive committee of WiredSafety. This group has its own administrative management that oversees the day-to-day management of WiredSafety's kid-specific divisions and teams, such as the WiredKids Wired-Ed group, the WiredKids Web Team group, the WiredKids ChatAngel group, etc. They also oversee and manage child and teenage volunteers, known as WiredKids and WiredTeens. But as with everything else we do, the buck stops with WiredSafety's Executive Director, Parry Aftab. WiredKidz.orgAt the WiredKidz site, in a password-protected, secure location, children aged 7 to12 years can participate in activities such as the Safe Surfing Club where they learn to protect their privacy while they are online. In order to join, the children must have their parent submit a letter from the child's school and grant their own consent. (For home-schooled children, other forms of age confirmation are accepted.) There is no charge for membership. The children work in squads and are taught about volunteering and community involvement. There are also a large variety of active squads, like the Editorial Squad where the kids write a newsletter on various topics that teach safety while having fun. There are contests to enter, and the kids even have a place to chat with their peers in a non-threatening environment. The WiredSafety trained volunteers moderate those chats and discussion boards to keep our children as safe as possible. WiredKidz even offers classes on privacy, writing, reporting, software and game design, and helping others. The kids themselves build and maintain the WiredKidz site, which teaches web-based skills, writing, and fosters creative growth. They even write cyberdetective stories, comics and games. The classes that they take here have been especially written for this age group. Follow this link to go directly to their site and learn the details >> WiredTeens.orgLike the WiredKidz.org site, here teens can learn, help teach their families and peers, and chat with each other in a secure environment. Teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 years are eligible for WiredTeens membership. They must submit a letter of consent from their parents or a guardian along with a letter from their school indicating that they are enrolled in good standing before they may join the group. (Other documentation is accepted for age confirmation for home-schooled children.) Teens can choose to participate in a wide variety of activities, such as chats that feature experts speaking on teen related topics, celebrity chats and trivia games. Teens who enjoy writing can join the Newsletter Staff and write articles on various topics for their peers. In addition to enjoying a safe chatting community, WiredTeens build awareness campaigns, design online safety classes and teach WiredKids how to enjoy the Internet safely. They write, illustrate and design their own web pages. For those who love building web pages, WiredTeens will feature different Internet safety-related Web sites built by the member teens on our WiredTeens.org site. It's a great group for teens who want to make a difference, and want to do it from their home or school, virtually. This site is designed by teens, for teens. Follow this link to find out what else WiredTeens offers for teens >> TeenangelsTeenangels are very special. They are an offline group, trained as a team, in their home city in many countries of the world. They have been featured in Teen People magazine and by Associated Press around the world. They are managed by offline leaders, and trained by third parties such as law enforcement groups, legal specialists, webmasters and experts. The teen who wants to become a member of this group must commit to a six-week training program and finish that program to be called a Teenangel. And their work is just starting at that point. Teenangels offline work is interesting and varied. They handle media interviews and, after being trained, can reach out to their communities and teach their neighbors, friends and families to enjoy the Internet safely through workshops and presentations, libraries, and schools. Teenangels differ from the online WiredTeens and WiredKids groups in several ways. WiredTeens and WiredKids are online volunteers. WiredSafety volunteers working within the WiredKids organization train them online. They work, participate and train online, and they can join individually from wherever they reside. Teenangels work largely offline, face-to-face, training extensively in a formalized program. They can only join an existing Teenangels chapter or form a new one with offline leaders and a sponsoring school. Teenangels make a substantial commitment to the program, while WiredTeens and WiredKids can enjoy their membership without having to be responsible for setting up programs. Follow this link to the Teenangels site >> WiredMoms/Dads and Cybermums and DadsMany parents around the world want to help children stay safe online. This group includes teachers, librarians and caring parents. They help run offline programs to increase awareness, and speak at school and community groups to other parents and children. They help review sites and products, and they also oversee the youth volunteers at WiredKids and WiredTeens. The group is named WiredMoms and Dads within the U.S.A., and CyberMums and Dads for Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and British or other British-influenced regions. The WiredMoms and Dads and CyberMums and Dads members monitor safe chat sites for youth members and assist third party sites with monitoring their youth chat and communication programs. Follow this link for more details about this tireless group >> K-9 AngelsThis program began as a September 11th, 2001 recovery program. One of the search and rescue dogs that worked at the World Trade Center, named Servous, was injured, yet showed extraordinary heroism. Parry Aftab wrote a children's book about Servous to help children heal after September 11th. The book is available online to our WiredKids and WiredTeens members without charge. Children have drawn all the illustrations for the book, and a version of the book where children can draw their own illustrations is available online as well. Following his injuries, Servous received a new puppy to train as a search and rescue dog to take his place. Children who corresponded to the E-mail to America Program named this puppy Liberty. She is called Libby for short. The children enjoyed this program so much that it was made the first of the K-9 Angels programs, celebrating hero dogs such as hearing assistance dogs, seeing-eye dogs and others. This program allows members of the WiredKids and WiredTeens groups to help others and to create content and programs while using the Internet. It helps entertain children while they make a difference and help others online. It's 'one of the sugars that help the medicine of online safety go down.' Follow this link to read the children's book, or to learn more about K-9 Angels >> E-mail to AmericaImmediately following September 11th, 2001, children from around the world began to write to express their fears and their messages for other children, for the search and rescue dogs, for firefighters and for Mayor Giuliani and President and Mrs. Bush, among others. One of our Teenangels lost her father at the World Trade Center, and it was decided that these kids could help other children learn to understand this horrible event without fearing for their personal safety. Teaching them to communicate, not to hate, was important. Finding those who needed help the most was also a way for these children to survive their fears. That was the origin of this program, which continues today. Servous, the search and rescue dog who became the "spokesdog" of the K-9 Angels program, receives 100 e-mails for every one e-mail the others receive. When children write e-mails, they are not censored except where absolutely necessary when children express fear or anger. Those fearful or angry children are then approached by CrisisAngel volunteers to help them work through issues of pain and loss. E-Pals, the best pen pal program online, assisted in publicizing the E-mail to America Program. Follow this link to read some of the e-mails submitted by children worldwide >> |
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