Should I keep my kids off the Internet because of the dangers?
The fastest way to get your kids onto the internet without you knowing about it is to tell them not to get on the internet. Their friends have internet connections. Their school has an internet connection. The library has an internet connection. I have a daughter; she's twelve. It's a dangerous age for kids on the internet. I encourage her to use the internet at home. I gave her a laptop so that she could use it at home but, for me, it's important to keep tabs on her. I restrict the amount of time she's allowed to use the internet. Homework's got to be done. Other things have to be done. There has to be downtime. I have a timer on her computer that will literally turn the internet off after she's used it for a 2 hour or a 3 hour period of time, depending on whether it's a weekday or a weekend. In addition to restricting the time that I put my daughter on the internet, I also restrict what sites she's able to go to. I use internet programmes, privacy tools, etc. which can filter websites, can screen websites, and can prevent my daughter from having open access to everything on the internet. Most of these programmes give you preferences and tools that allow you to turn on or off things like streaming video, certain web searches, or will make certain websites blacklisted entirely. This allows me to feel safe with my daughter being on the internet because I know she's got a restricted amount of time on the internet and I know that her web browser will keep a history of where she's been on the internet. There are also programmes that can e-mail that history directly to you. However, I recommend that you keep an eye on the computer that your kids use the internet for; that you keep a look at the history. You allow them to use it, but you allow them to use it in a room where you can see them; not in the back hallway, and not in the bedroom with a closed door. However, give them the permission that they can do it so that you can approve how they do it, how long they do it for, and where they go.
