Recycle Sunday: Can the Internet Really Parent your Child?

Original Post: April 23, 2007

I was reading a post on CompuWorld that addressed the ongoing debate concerning Parental control over child online behavior vs Internet filters.

I don't have kids yet(update: I have a one year old), but I teach a very impressionable group of 6th and 7th graders. I talk to them a lot about their lives and what works for them. Some of my kids are so busy with their day that they rarely get on the computer for non-academic reasons. And then there are students who have little to no supervision and are sent to their room to do homework while we all know that they are NOT DOING HOMEWORK! Lesson #1: Children doing homework need to be seen (i.e. sit at the dinner table and work until you're done).

Going back to the CompuWorld article, the author reflected on the NY Times article, "Tools to Keep the Web Safe for Children," that talked about the ways that parents can prevent their children from getting into mischief online. The author of the blog begged the question: does that always work?

I'll let you read the blog and decided for yourselves, but I think that good old fashioned parent monitoring is the best practice. I would even go so far as to say that homes should have a "computer room" for children under the age of 16. There is no need for them to have a computer in their room. I didn't and I was fine! Granted, it was 1990 and the Internet wasn't really available for households until 1992. And yes, we had to take turns, but you work it out!

Now keep in mind, I don't have kids yet. I could sing a different tune. Bottom line, not all kids need the Internet policing. Some kids just don't bother with fooling around. These preventative measures are put in place for a reason, but it needs to be coupled with parental monitoring as well.

For more information on computer and internet safety, take this quiz with your children.

2 comments:

Yvon Brousseau said...

After reading your article, I pencil in

“…These preventative measures are put in place for a reason, but it needs to be coupled with parental monitoring as well…’’

As you, I strongly believe that only a combination of educational-guide tool and parental involvement is still the most effective way to keep our kids safe online…

Internet is the ‘’today’’ part of new technologies and like any powerful tool of nature, has to be managed and accessed properly to get real benefits out of it.

That’s why we created AxylomClass ® a 2nd generation of Internet parent control software based on an innovative approach without exploiting standard technological filter, spying methods or censure approaches but with a Trust mode of navigation to develop a real parent-child communication.

AxylomClass ® lend a hand as parent to develop and to sustain self-governance, ethical and critical attitudes from yours children electronically connected to the world with a solid control on Internet clutter by creating your Private Internet (Virtual Library).

Finally, to give them a reason to push aside all of that clutter and focus on reaching their true potential at home, in school and beyond

Anonymous said...

No, I don't think the responsibility of parenting can be pushed away like this. Mummies and daddies should step up and do their part in physically monitoring their activities. All too often, they rely on others (for instance software) to keep an eye on their child. They fail to realize that kids nowadays are smarter as well to get pass that.

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