Here’s the issue: how to be sure your kids are safe from viewing objectionable sites when they are searching the Internet. After all, you don’t want them to stumble across something they should not see.

Maybe you are hoping to buy a program for your computer that blocks objectionable sites, but will allow them to do the research you want them to do.

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.

The software could not have detected the objectionable photos, since NetNanny and similar software look for objectionable words. They are not able to evaluate pictures.

The next question is, “What’s a parent to do?”

* Keep your computers where you can monitor what the kids are doing. Put them in the kitchen or wherever YOU are.

*Have a login password that only the adults know. The kid has to have permission, and oversight, to use the computer.

*Require the child to log off when he is done. Now the password is 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 Internet cables if the child doens’t need to access the Internet for his task.

*Make younger kids use your email address. Then you can be sure to delete that filth that lands in the inbox from time to time. Or, as the kids get older, give them their own but instruct them to give out their address only to trusted friends.

Following these precautions will help you keep your kids safe, and will teach your teenagers good habits for avoiding temptations.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 12:15 am and is filed under Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.