Are your kids online?

[FancyNancy]

Does anyone have a child that spends a lot of time on the internet? I cant believe how dangerous the web has become these days. Children are approached all the time by predators and I was wondering if some of you were doing anything to try and keep your kids safer. After talking about it with a friend, she sent me this link, http://www.netsmartz411.org/. Has anyone seen it? It has some pretty good information for parents looking to keep their kids a little safer while online. I think it also allows you to email questions to people that can help if your having specific problems.

[ChrisCountryGirl]

I don't have children. I feel that children shouldn't be allowed on the Internet at all because of child predators, pornography or any other infomation they shouldn't see or read.

With teenagers, educate them about the Internet and monitor what they are viewing also.

[Lambsauce]

I've been using the internet since I was 11. My parents have never monitored me.

[SugarGlider]

My kids are 8 and 11. I moniter unless they are on something very kid friendly like toontown online that has prases you can say but you cant talk talk unless you know a person in RL.

My daughter has a hard time understanding the limits I set... she gets really upset about it but I want her safe so *shrug*.

[kwren23]

my 12 year old is online a lot when he is here. he has a computer in his room that is NOT hooked up to the internet, its just for games and it has an art program and a word processing program on it for him to play with. our 'online' computer is in the living room/kitchen area. its where everyone hangs out, all the time. i am always in the room with him when he is on the computer. he cant use chat programs or visit chatrooms. he has an email account that i can access whenever i want to check up on him. i trust no one online, you never know who is lurking out there!

hes a good kid and doesnt complain. i always explain why i do the things i do and i cut him a lot of slack in other places, so he understands the rules about the computer are just to keep him safe.

[HollyBearsMom]

My 5 year old spends time on webkinz, nick, PBS kids and few others that escape me right now. He has his own "favorites" folder and is allowed to go to any site in that folder. He gets about an hour of screen time a day these days, more on the weekends. Screen time is all media-TV, videos, computer, gamecube.

Right now we don't monitor and the computer/office is a backroom in the house but I trust him. When he gets older and start really surfin' we will move the computer to a more central location. This will be so we have more visibility but also because it will be closer to where the action is. I hate running back and forth when I am making dinner, etc.

[teachma]

My fourth grade students go on Webkinz and Club Penguin. I know they are mostly unsupervised, and for that reason, I have done a lot of talking about the ways they can stay safe online. I have actually gone on these websites with my students on occasion (on the huge, overhead LCD player-- glad the principal didn't walk in ) to try to get a better understanding of how they work so that I can talk with the children about them. My own six year old goes on the Nickelodeon website and that's about it. He isn't always supervised then, but if anything "wrong" happens, he instantly alerts me, so I know we're safe for now!

[Jessy1019]

My four year old really only uses Starfall.com for reading and games, and PBSKids.org or Playhouse Disney on occasion.

When she gets older, we will talk with her about how to be safe on the internet. I am not planning to install any kind of netnanny or block her from accessing any sites, though. There's nothing she could see that we couldn't talk about, and as long as she knows to ask before giving out her information, I think she (and her brother) will be safe.

I really don't think the internet is that dangerous, though . . . not for kids who know how to use it and have supervision in terms of parents who pay attention to where they're going, who they're going with, etc.

[Arduinna]

Since you posted this in the teen forum I'm going to assume you are looking at this from the perspective of a parent of teenagers. I have a 17 year old. She has used the internet for years. I don't feel the internet is dangerous. She was given basic safety guidelines when she started using the internet and we have never had a problem. Preteens and teens are usually old enough to remember basic safety rules.

[Storm Bride]

DS1 (almost 14) is online. Our computer is in the living room, where we can see what he's doing, and I have his email password. He mostly uses his online time to MSN his school friends.

We've talked to him about basic safety precautions and he knows that there's porn and stuff out there. He doesn't really want to see it, but I can't say what will happen when morbid curiousity takes over...

[mommy68]

My oldest DS gets online and visits sites but no chatrooms. I can't imagine anyone approaching him unless he is in a chatroom. Plus, my computer is in my office in plain view of the house and he knows I can see where he is at. Although, I don't think he has the right mind to try and do anything sneaky or to venture to bad sites at this age.

[joensally]

I highly recommend this site:
http://www.safeonlineoutreach.com/index.php

The porn readily accessible on the internet is fundamentally different than what most of us saw as teenagers. Never mind internet predators.

""Merlyn asked us to think of our youth as the 'indigenous citizens of cyberspace,' and I was captured by this thought. Our youth are the first generation in cyberspace.
If we think back to our parents teaching us the rules of communication etiquette, we can realize that some adults are not able to teach the new rules of communication etiquette, simply because they do not know or understand the medium, and therefore cannot articulate the rules."

Mary Frances Fitzgerald,
The Alberta Counselletter, July 2005

[UnschoolnMa]

My kids have been online for quite sometime now. We've never had any big problems, and we discuss the dangers openly.

[Dar]

Well, not at the moment... right now she's knitting. She'll probably go online later, though. I think the online boogeyman thing is way overblown, and that if you don't have a solid relationship with your teen based on mutual trust and shared information, they'll end up in trouble somehow... if not online, then elsewhere.

dar

[Arduinna]

Gotta agree with Dar !

And I always here about how internet porn is supposedly so different and *worse* than any other before but I've seen a decent amount and frankly don't agree.

[BelovedK]

My son love to play Runescape...I don't like it very much. Chatting goes on and I always picture some weird predator on the other end of his conversation...He wants me to play, so I think I will get into it so I can become involved...


He is not allowed to be on when I'm not home, but I've caught him doing it .

He likes to go to youtube and I'm definately against him going there unless I know exactly what he is looking at.

[TwinMom]

My 13-year olds are online a lot. They are on a couple yahoogroups for unschooled/homeschooled teens and they exchange emails with friends several times a day. They go to chat rooms for various interests. One of them has taught herself html and has a website. I'm not worried or concerned about their safety.

[NiteNicole]

Preteens and teens are usually old enough to remember basic safety rules.

Yes, but will they always use them?

[gayle1701]

My 16-year-old daughter spends lots of time online. She and I have talked about the dangers of predators and other stuff online, and have had no problems with it. If she gets unsolicitited messages or emails she shows them to me, and we either laugh about them together or go ugh!

[aeiouys]

My 11 year old ds is online. He also plays runescape, or chats with his friends onlne.
He knows and understands the dangers of the online world. He knows not to give out personal information etc. He only adds people to his msn list with my approval.
I too have his email password, and keep his chat history archived.
He's definately "street smart" online, I'm not worried about him at all, but I still do check up on him.

He has made really good friends with a kid in Austraila. They've even called each other on the phone once, and have sent packages to each other in the mail. (I know he's a kid, I've seen him on webcam and I've talked to his mom on the phone)