Kids And The Net

[BG45]

I was listening to Air1 a Christian radio station on the way back from the disaster that was the bank with its apathetic tellers who seem to be unable to count simple money today when this topic came up; how does a parent keep their kids safe online? I'm interested in hearing what the Phamily does, because some of these people seemed to be the net gestapo on their kids.

Some examples:
1) I have all their passwords.
2) I have it set up to block every website on the internet and they need me to confirm in my e-mail that they can go there for every website they try to visit.
3) I have parental controls set to turn off the internet usage at 9pm on weeknights.
4) I go through all my daughter's myspace friends and block any I find to give me any sort of icky feeling.
5) I installed software to monitor their every move and keystroke.

Apparently what started this debate on the station was a news story that the FCC is voting on whether or not to give all of America free broadband.

Edited December 2, 2008 by BG45

[homeschoolmom]

I have my kids' email account passwords-- primarily because we use them for school and I need to be able to access the accounts to communicate with their writing teacher. Also because I set up the accounts in the first place. But my kids are pretty young yet and don't use the internet all that much.

[Theoketos]

[quote name='BG45' post='1716474' date='Dec 2 2008, 09:20 AM']I was listening to Air1 a Christian radio station on the way back from the disaster that was the bank with its apathetic tellers who seem to be unable to count simple money today when this topic came up; how does a parent keep their kids safe online? I'm interested in hearing what the Phamily does, because some of these people seemed to be the net gestapo on their kids.

Some examples:
1) I have all their passwords.
2) I have it set up to block every website on the internet and they need me to confirm in my e-mail that they can go there for every website they try to visit.
3) I have parental controls set to turn off the internet usage at 9pm on weeknights.
4) I go through all my daughter's myspace friends and block any I find to give me any sort of icky feeling.
5) I installed software to monitor their every move and keystroke.

Apparently what started this debate on the station was a news story that the FCC is voting on whether or not to give all of America free broadband.[/quote]

Awesome. Could you PM the software you use? I have a little one who is almost three. I want to be prepared when she starts using the "puter"

My three rules for my self, besides having a fiddler;

1. Monitor faces open/public space.
2. Limit my use to a specific time e.g. 1 hour a day
3. Have a list of things to do on line. When finished with the tasks I get off line.

[mcts]

when i was a little younger, i couldn't use the internet without my mom or dad with me. My little brother can't get on without either me, my brother, or one of my parents with him.

it's a hassle, but since we don't have much money and our computer won't let us install basically anything anyway, it's a great free parental control system.

[icelandic_iceskater]

my parents keep the family desktop in the main room, & with tons of little kids roaming around its pretty much always being monitored by someone else 24/7

[Snowflake3981]

I've heard recommendations that you "friend" them on myspace, facebook, etc. so you know what's going on, but if you already have their passwords you don't really need to do that!

My parents were clueless about what we looked at online when we were younger, and it was not a good thing.... Especially since the kids usually know more about technology to be able to hide things from their parents, like clearing history, deleting cookies, etc.

[Old_Joe]

You can also get accountability programs that let you know what websites people are viewing.

[prose]

My children are only allowed to use their Easy Link (Fisher Price) to go on the internet.

Occasionally I will let the older one play on Webkinz, but she is not adding friends.

I treat the internet like a playground. I wouldn't let my kids talk to strangers there, I won't let them online. And I would never leave them unattended in a playground either.

[BG45]

See you all seem so sane compared to the folks on the radio; in my house we had the computer where everyone could see what you were doing which worked as a fine parental control for me at least.

(oh and Theotokos, no clue where they got the software)

[lost_in_this_world]

hey

so i read your post and i dont have any kids and i dont know how old your kids are but doesnt it seem like a a bit much? i know that there are a lot of dangers out there but i also think your children should have some privacy. but im not a parent so maybe i dont know.

[Jesus_lol]

he wasnt saying what he does, but what some of the callers on the radio do. at least i think so, right?

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Snowflake3981' post='1716615' date='Dec 2 2008, 01:17 PM']I've heard recommendations that you "friend" them on myspace, facebook, etc. so you know what's going on, but if you already have their passwords you don't really need to do that!

My parents were clueless about what we looked at online when we were younger, and it was not a good thing.... Especially since the kids usually know more about technology to be able to hide things from their parents, like clearing history, deleting cookies, etc.[/quote]
<sigh> I was at a homeschool conference last spring and one of the topics was kids and technology. One of the things the speaker told us was that there are basically two kinds of people in the modern world-- technology natives and technology immigrants. Anyone over 30 was an immigrant-- meaning that we did not grow up with the kinds of technology our kids have access to today. No matter how educated about it we become, it will never be quite the same for us because we remember a world "before" it. It's really hard for me to keep up and understand all the stuff....

[missionseeker]

yeah.. Bg's not married. and he doesn't have kids.


We're praying for May 2010, though...

[MissyP89]

[quote name='missionseeker' post='1716857' date='Dec 2 2008, 08:45 PM']yeah.. Bg's not married. and he doesn't have kids.


We're praying for May 2010, though...


[/quote]

You're lame! (At this rate, any point before we die would be great--are you reading this, Lord?)

[MissyP89]

In my earlier years, I had time limits and password-encrypted parental controls. As I got older the fiddler would block things I needed that were appropriate more and more often, and from that point I was on the honor system. It worked until I fell away from the Church...but by then, they weren't as vigilant or caring as I was in my mid teens.