Kids And The Internet
How Safe Is It?
How do you deal with kids and the internet?
How much time do your children spend online? Do you
know where they go, what they see, who they talk to or what they
listen to? You name it, it's out there, and most teens have no
trouble finding it. Here are a few tips about kids and the
internet.
My first two kids grew up without the internet, yes, there really was such a time. My next two used AOL for kids. I loved it, all their needs were taken care of and I had nothing to worry about as long as they stayed in that protected environment. The time eventually came when they learned that the Internet Explorer button on the Desktop opened them up to all of the stuff they were being protected from. By now they were into the less restricted AOL for teens, but were still curious. We needed to have a talk and set down some rules about the internet and it's use. Their free time was still spent on AOL but I allowed the unrestricted web for homework and a few other supervised uses.
Talking to your teens about sex and porn sites is an important part of parenting and computer use. You may, however, feel, as I did, that you need a little more than just a talk. I have been very pleased with AOL for kids and teens, highly recommended. There are a few other things that can be done to make the computer a safe place for your family. Try keeping the computer in a public place where the user can be seen by other family members. Filters and porn blocks are available on most systems, or can be purchased and easily loaded. Internet time could also be limited the same as I would recommend doing with the TV. My daughter lets the browser auto fill her log ins so that nothing is ever hid from me. Just the fact that she knows I could peak in whenever I wanted is reason enough for me not to. You might make a rule about password protected sites, especially those involving e-mail services.
Teens love keeping track of their friends on my space and facebook, and in most cases this seems to be just fine. If you know your child's friends, and know how they interact together, then you probably already know how they will act on their social networking sites. If you have any doubts do a little checking on them. I can walk up behind my daughter at anytime and ask her what she is doing. She'll usually say something like "this is Kelley's site, check out this pic of her fat dog." If she immediately clicked out of whatever she was looking at I would begin to worry.
And what if I was worried about my daughter's online use? I would make use of the browser history bar and see where she has been spending her time. If I was extremely concerned I might even peek at an email or two. If I found certain areas password protected I would want to gain access and take a look. It is easy to download a program that tracks your computers keystrokes. At any time you could see exactly what has been typed and on what site or in what program. It is an excellent spy tool, that hopefully, you will never have to use.
Keep a very talkative and open relationship going on with your teens. This openness will hopefully involve all aspects of their lives, including their friends and their internet use. Do we need to be concerned about kids and the internet? You bet we do.
Other related pages at Parenting Magic
Teenage Texting :
Texting While Driving :
Keeping Kids Busy
Is TV Bad :
Children And Sports :
Children Wanting To Learn
Home Schooled Child :
Self Esteem Tips :
Software For Children
