Parents must protect young children from hateful content on the Internet. They must also teach older kids how to think critically about online content.

Learn everything you can about the Internet and what your kids are doing online. Ask them to show you where they go online and what they like. Keep the lines of communication open so your kids feel comfortable coming to you for help if they come across anything disturbing.

Create an online agreement, with input from your kids. The agreement should have clear guidelines for where they can go on the Internet and what they can do. Research findings indicate that risky online behaviour is greatly reduced in homes with Internet rules.

Monitor and supervise your children's Internet use. Generally, children under 10 do not have the critical thinking skills to surf the Net alone. It's a good practice to keep connected computers in a highly visible area, not in your child's room.

Teach your kids from an early age about media violence. Young people need to learn to respect others and to respond appropriately to violent media. Talk to them about real violence and its consequences, and discourage media that portray killing or pain as entertainment.

Educate your kids about online hate. Young people will better be able to recognize and avoid hateful content if they are taught the strategies hate mongers use and the history of racism. Help them to identify hateful content and symbols on Web sites; for example, swastikas, derogatory references to race or sexual orientation, and cartoon depiction of various ethnic and racial groups.

Direct your kids to anti-racism youth Web sites. These include "Artists Against Racism," "Tolerance.org".

Investigate filtering software. While filters can help block some violent and hateful content, these technologies are not the complete answer. As we have seen, online hate often crops up in subtle forms that are often not identified by filters.

Children and young people are growing up in a media-saturated culture where they encounter a vast array of images and ideas on a daily basis, some of which may be of a violent nature. Children and young people are potentially exposed to violence on the Internet, ranging from sites with cruel humour to disturbing depictions of torture and sadism. They may download music containing violent lyrics and access violent images, video clips and online games.

Helping children and young people to evaluate the images and ideas they encounter online and to clearly express their attitudes and feelings towards violence, in real life as well as on the screen is an important task for parents. Affording children and young people the opportunity to discuss these sorts of issues with you can help to equip them with the tools to respond thoughtfully and critically to media content. Dialogue with parents on this subject can help children and young people to put depictions of violence into perspective, and perhaps diffuse some of its power

The majority of children and young people are most likely to experience shock, horror and fear as a result of exposure to violent content. Therefore, knowing that it is possible to speak to a parent or carer about these feelings is an extremely important aspect to minimising the risk of harm to a child who has viewed or may encounter material of a violent nature.

For those children and young people with a predisposition to seek out violent content, exposure to interactive content and associated forums may lead them to think that violence is acceptable, and may increase the risk of a child or young person engaging in violent behaviour in everyday life. Once again open lines of communication are a key element in reducing the risk of harm to a child who is predisposed to violent behaviour.

Depending on the context differing degrees of violence may be portrayed and children and young people may simply view content, e.g., violent movie, or they may engage with content interactively, e.g., play an online game, or they may produce the content, e.g., happy slapping movie. The most frequently cited concerns with respect to the messages this content communicates relates to the role that violent content may play in justifying and reinforcing appetites for violence and encouraging violent behaviour in real life.