Internet Safety for Your Kids
Author: PhyllisWheeler Total views: 10 Word Count: 370
You may be wondering how you can make the Internet safe for your kids. You'd like to protect them from the objectionable sites and emails that would be so easy for them to find.
Maybe you are hoping to buy a program for your computer that blocks objectionable sites, but will allow them to do the research you want them to do.
I have to tell you that there is no solution like that. These filter programs, such as NetNanny, look for a list of objectionable words in the site your child has chosen to visit. Simple words such as "leg" can raise the alarm and cause a headache, while regular research on breast cancer might be blocked.
But programs that look for words fail completely if the site has no objectionable words--only objectionable photos. My teenage son figured this out. He used Google Images to look for objectionable sites. He found them despite the fact that our filter, NetNanny, was turned on.
In fact, the filter program could never block these sites because it searches for words. It can't evaluate pictures.
The next question is, "What's a parent to do?"
*The computer should be where you can monitor what the kidsa re doing. They should be where YOU are.
*Have a login password that only the adults know. The kid has to have permission, and oversight, to use the computer.
*Insist that your kids log off when they finish. As a result, they will need an adult to input the password the next time they want on.
*Use a filter like NetNanny. It will help when your back is turned.
*Make sure the kids know your expectations and the consequences for disobeying.
*Unplug the computer from the Internet if the child is using a word processor or other local program only.
*Make younger kids use your email address. Then you can be sure to delete that filth that lands in the inbox from time to time. Or, as the kids get older, give them their own but instruct them to give out their address only to trusted friends.
Your watchfulness will pay off. Your children will be protected from what they should not see, and they will also learn good habits for using the Internet as adults.
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About the Author
Phyllis Wheeler, the Computer Lady, gives these tips for parents. She also furnishes homeschool computer courses through MotherboardBooks.com, which has offered self-study computer science courses for kids and teens since 2003.
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