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Article Mum’s cyber safety warning for young daughter goes viral

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A mother’s sneaky trick to keep her seven-year-old daughter safe online has gone viral.

Sue Taher came up with the idea of an official government letter warning after her “adorable innocent daughter” confessed to breaking the house rules of chatting to strangers online.

“She begged me to ground her as she was wrong and so sorry for breaking the house rules,” Taher posted on Facebook.

Shared on the Love What Matters Facebook page Sue wrote,

“So last night my adorable daughter (7 years old) after her iPad time came to a close and we kissed her good night, minutes later she came downstairs balling her eyes out. She soon confessed to breaking the home online rule of chatting with random people online in the gaming world. We have a no chat rule. And she begged me to ground her as she was wrong and so sorry for breaking the house rules.

It got me thinking, OK… I ground her, confiscate the iPad but really, no lesson is learned. So during my lunch break my absolute manic mind came up with this faux letter with letterhead and all. I put it in our mail box this afternoon addressed to Mr and Mrs Taher.

The letter is just a reminder, a deterrence and will possibly freak the crap out of her for a few years (I hope). The response when I gave her and her brother the letter was exactly what I was aiming for. The letter doesn’t replace continuous education about cyber danger and stranger danger and keeping the open dialogue of honesty with your children.

If they make a mistake, pull them up, watch what they are doing, let them make mistakes with you and be OK to discuss those awkward subjects that make your stomach squirm. I don’t believe in denying them access to the internet as it’s part of our life.

A reminder to all of us to watch what our children do online, be the helicopter parent, observe their behavior, be open with discussion even if it’s so uncomfortable and beyond their years of understanding. My hope is to raise resilient and socially conscious children who God willing will grow up sensible children. It’ll be a great piece to present at her 18th birthday.”

Well done, mum! This is an awesome idea.

Do you agree with what this mum did?

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Comments

  • i think that there was more to it if she was crying and upset and begged for grounding.

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  • Surely there is a way of blocking chats with strangers and only allowing family to talk to her.

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  • I agree with all the responses so far. I wonder why a seven year old doesn’t have a blocking mechanism on her device to stop her from talking to strangers. I also think she should be praised for telling the truth rather than being shocked. PS I can’t see the letter either.

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  • at least she confessed to breaking the rule, most kids wouldn’t. I wonder if something happened while she was chatting online that spooked her and made her scared hence the confession?

    I can’t see the letter so I am not sure if it is the right way to go or not? but sometimes you have to try something a little different to get your point across

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  • I can’t see the letter as the fb post is not available.
    So a bit hard for me to say.
    But I would be very proud that my child voluntarily admitted to doing it

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  • Personally I think that when the girl confessed to breaking the house rules of chatting to strangers online and begs to be grounded as she was wrong and so sorry for breaking the house rules, needs a positive response, not a shock response. A compliment for telling that she did something wrong and an open chat with her about the why of the rule would have been enough in my opinion. But hey, we’re all different and have our unique parenting style.

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  • It is not something that I would ever do. I have an open and honest dialogue with my children.

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  • Don’t let your kids have the internet or facebook and you will avoid a lot of unhappy events. If they have an i-pad make sure there is a way of preventing them from using games other than the ones you put on there.

    Reply

  • I’m really happy withholding the internet and all devices from my son as long as I can.

    Reply
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