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Are you wondering how to make the Internet safe for your kids? You want them to use the Internet for research, but you don't want them to find objectionable sites or emails. Perhaps you'd like to buy a solution that you can use on your computer that will not allow them to look at objectionable sites, yet will allow them to freely browse. I have sad news for you--there is no such perfect solution. There are solutions out there, such as NetNanny, that block any site mentioning one of a list of objectionable words. The result can be funny, such as blocking the word "arm," and at the same time can drive you nuts if you really want to do regular research on, say, breast cancer. But programs that look for words fail completely if the site has no objectionable words--only objectionable photos. My teenage son figured this out. He used Google Images to look for objectionable sites. He found them despite the fact that our filter, NetNanny, was turned on. In fact, the filter program could never block these sites because it searches for words. It can't evaluate pictures. So, what can you as a parent do? *The computer should be where you can monitor what the kidsa re doing. They should be where YOU are. *To log on, anyone who is not an adult will have to ask an adult to input the password, giving permission in this way. *Ensure that the kid logs off when the computer session is over, or turns the computer off. This makes the password required for the next session. *Use NetNanny or a similar filter. It can only help. *Make sure the kids know you will punish them if they are looking at objectionable sites. Visit their terminals at unpredictable times. *Unplug the computer from the Internet if the child is using a word processor or other local program only. *Give younger kids your own email address to use. This protects them from objectionable spam. Give teens an email address, but instruct them to give it out only to people they know personally. If you take these measures and are watchful, you will help your teenagers withstand a temptation that is everywhere on the Internet, and get them into the habit of making good choices when sitting down to use the computer.
Article Source: http://www.health-fitness-for-all.com
Phyllis Wheeler, the Computer Lady, gives this advice for parents. She also furnishes homeschool computer courses via MotherboardBooks.com, which has provided self-study computer skills and programming courses for kids and teens since 2003.
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