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Life Notes: Protecting Your Child Onlineby Rick Wheat When visiting strange places you choose to avoid some areas because they look unsafe. The online world is different. On the Internet there are no clear boundaries between safe websites and those you wish to prevent your child from viewing. When you and I were kids, one difference between adulthood and childhood was the type of information adults possessed that we could not access. The dark side of the Internet makes "adult" information available to children. Just as we wouldn't think of dropping our child off at an adult video store, we must be responsible about the Internet content our children may view on the computer in our family room. What can a parent do? If you have young children, it's easier to make sure your children are protected. You may think what I do is extreme and unfashionable, but it is very effective: I sit beside them in front of the computer and they only visit sites I've visited prior to their visit. My children are still young enough that this works well. Why do I do this? Because my children (without even knowing it) have a right to their innocence. My responsibility as their father is to make certain their right to innocence is protected. It's really that simple! How can technology help? If you have older children and adolescents you can take advantage of technology to protect your children. Filtering servers and software are available at reasonable costs. You can use a secure operating system with administration accounts and give your children restricted user accounts so they cannot disable any filtering mechanisms you install. Filtered email accounts designed for children are available, too. Where does one start? Learn from the experts. www.getnetwise.org is a great place to begin. GetNetWise is a public service provided by a wide range of Internet companies and public interest groups. The website offers excellent resources for parents including an online safety guide, tools for families, links to websites for kids and help reporting content problems on the Internet. Life Notes: Complete List 2004 2003 The Life Notes articles are written by staff of Louisiana Methodist Children's Home and are published in The Ruston Daily Leader. | |||
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