Keep Your Kids Safe on the World Wide Web
Are you wondering how to make the Internet safe for your kids? You want them to use the Internet for research, but you don’t want them to find objectionable sites or emails.
Perhaps you’d like to buy a solution that you can use on your computer that will not allow them to look at objectionable sites, yet will allow them to freely browse.
Here’s the bad news: filtering programs can’t do the job by themselves. NentNanny and other applications like it search for certain words in the Web site your child is clicking on. Simple words like “belly” can be targets for blocking, causing frustration, while research on “breast cancer” may be impossible.
But programs like this fail when trying to filter objectionable photo sites that have no objectionable words. So, how do I know this? I am sad to say that my teenage son enlightened me. Using Google Images, he searched for objectionable sites and found them, even though the filtering program was 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.
*To log on, anyone who is not an adult will have to ask an adult to input the password, giving permission in this way.
*Require the child to log off when he is done. Now the password is required for the next session.
*Use NetNanny or a similar filter. It can only help.
*Make sure the kids know you will punish them if they are looking at objectionable sites. Visit their terminals at unpredictable times.
*Unplug the computer from the Internet if the child is using a word processor or other local program only.
*Require younger children to use your email address. This will allow you to protect them from vicious spam. As they get older, give teens their own email address, but make sure they give it out only to friends.
If you take these measures and are watchful, you will help your teenagers withstand a temptation that is everywhere on the Internet, and get them into the habit of making good choices when sitting down to use the computer.