Relief from the heat used to mean trudging off with friends for a cool dip in the pool. For today’s kids, it’s as least as likely to mean sitting in an air-conditioned house while venturing into cyberspace. The internet opens up a world of opportunity for kids -- and also presents serious parenting challenges.
As a whole, kids need a healthy balance of constructive activity, exercise, free time, and social contact – live and in person -- with their peers. It’s likely that they’ll need your help to maintain that balance while incorporating the online world into it. That’s because the internet, and computers themselves, have a certain addictive quality for kids and adults alike. It makes sense to place a single limit on the daily time your children spend in front of a screen, whether instant messaging, computer time, or television.
Helping kids manage their activity online is also a matter of safety. Children need guidelines to protect them from exposure to pornographic, violent and otherwise hurtful material. It’s up to parents to teach kids how to steer clear of online predators and identity thieves. Kids need to understand the potential for the devastating spread of hurtful gossip and for cyberbullying, unique to an online world.
Monitoring children’s online activity is easy when they’re little. You can accomplish it by locating the computer in a common area rather than in a child’s bedroom, adding a filter, and looking over their shoulders. But once they reach middle school age, relying on control and monitoring to keep your children safe is no longer an effective strategy. The reality is that kids have access to the internet – if not from your house, then from a friend’s, and the rules and supervision at their friends’ houses may not be as tight as your own. So the balance of parenting effort has to shift from control to education. Fortunately, there is powerful training available online that uses videos, cartoons, music, and facts to persuade kids of all ages that they need to be careful.
Visit these excellent resources with your kids and learn together about internet safety:
· www.netsmartzkids.org – cartoons that teach kids safe online behavior
· www.ispace.org and http://vta.isafe.org/ for teens and adults
· www.netsmartz.org
· www.wiredsafety.org
© 2007 Beech Acres Parenting Center
Information: www.beechacres.org
Fran Hendrick, M.Ed., P.C.C., therapist, coach, and mother of two, is director of Parenting Resources at Beech Acres Parenting Center.