Remember when someone taught you your first address and phone number? Remember when they taught you to look both ways before you crossed the street? You might have thought the grown-ups were playing games with you at the time, but they knew better. And their ploy worked, because you’re still here.

Teaching children to avoid risky behavior is one of more urgent jobs grown-ups have, and the Internet makes the job harder. A lot of sexual predators work online. Four percent of children aged 10 to 17 have been subjected to an “aggressive sexual solicitation” online in the last year, according to a 2006 survey. The report containing this finding says that the most effective tactic for combating online sexual predators, as well as SPAM, viruses, telemarketers, and other unpleasant online phenomena, is teaching children how to avoid risky online behavior before they hit puberty and become curious about those sorts of things. That is just the kind of education Jen Wofford is doing. One of her results can be seen below.

Jen is Assistant Dean for Education at Cornell University’s Department of Computing and Information Computer Science. Yet clearly she has not lost her sense of humor. She runs an after-school program on Tuesdays that teaches young children computer basics – how to use a mouse, how to save a file, how to design a private space for yourself online — and most recently, how to stay safe when you’re out in cyberspace meeting people and looking around. Here are the five rules she laid down in class:
1. Never give out your real name.
2. Never give out your address or where you go to school.
3. Think of yourself on the Internet as a kind of everyday superhero. Hide your true identity!
4. Do not talk to strangers unless your teacher or parent has introduced you to them.
5. Do not open SPAM.

The photo is from a boy in the class who was making an “avatar” of himself, part of rule #3. You can see a full report and comment on it at the blog Real Place, Virtual Space. So be safe out there, kids. Always remember not to pet the kitty if she folds back her ears.