Parents can’t be expected to supervise and control what their children see or hear via the media 24/7. But setting up some rules, communicating openly about what is and is not acceptable and using available tools to monitor and guide children can help create a safe environment. I recommend a book by Brent and Phelecia Hatch called Raising a G-Rated Family in an X-Rated World. The book is not so much about blocking kids from accessing what is out there but is about raising kids with discipline, respect and core values to help them control what comes into their lives and make the right choices. Integrating such a perspective into your family life will give you more peace of mind than feeling that you always have to run along side them to filter out what they should not see. It’s about empowering them to handle it themselves — and everyone will feel better in such an environment.

 Many do inform their children and use it as an opportunity to address the various concerns, so that the child will understand that there are real and valid concerns. Parents’ best resources are their own kids for information and education on Internet safety since children today are often far more Internet savvy than their parents are. Many problems can be avoided if parents have an ongoing dialog with their kids about their  Internet activity. Of course many parental control software applications can not actually be hidden from a child since the moment they do try to go to an illicit website, the software (such as Optenet PC) blocks them and they see a blocking screen. This in itself can be educational — a sort of reminder that some sites are not appropriate for them, even if they thought they were. In the case where a parent suspects some problem, it can be helpful to take a look at what a child as been doing online. For example, a parent may discover that their teenage daughter is frequenting diet sites and/or sites that act as support groups for anorexia (supporting the phenomena not recovery!) and in this way, learn about a very serious problem early enough to take preventive action.

One of the challenges the Internet presents to us as parents is the easy access our children have to non-filtered information. In the same way we can trust that the local library does not provide our children with books providing tips on how to take drugs, we should be able to create an Internet environment in our home that does not provide access to such information. Keep reading here for more information on how to manage your family’s Internet access.