Washington, DC - As students across the country head back to school, the Federal Trade Commission has advice for parents on talking to their kids about online safety, protecting their children’s personal information, and back-to-school shopping.

In the first blog post, published Wednesday as part of a three-part series, the FTC urges parents to talk to their children about being safe online. The blog post encourages parents to discuss their expectations for appropriate online behavior, and stresses the importance of keeping lines of communication open even when their children do something inappropriate online.

The other blog posts, which will be posted over the next week, will focus on safeguarding children’s personal information, including their Social Security numbers, and tips for how to save time and money on back-to-school shopping.