We were fortunate the school spoke to all the students about safety etc about the internet and even had parent meeting . Sometimes children do disobey so hopefully it wont happen again .

It’s important to educate children of the dangers associated with the internet and social media and to let them feel that they can talk to their parents about anything that concerns them.

Being a good parent means making hard and unpopular decisions. Whilst we can’t go backwards with regards to technology, we still need to have boundaries with regards to its use. I think it is important to know what our kids are up to in order to parent them more effectively.

You can’t fight technology, it’s the future. Instead of being unpopular and blocking or hovering over them (which only leads them to believe they aren’t trusted) we should be teaching them how to use it safely.

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  • • mom165081 replied
    • 20 Dec 2015 , 1:13 am

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  I think that was what this story was trying to highlight.

yes protect your children. the internet is a big place and kids need help navigating it

we all need to be careful these days…especially with the way the world is going…

Some very good advice here

I’m not a hover parent, I do allow my children to access the internet without me right by their side. However, they know the limits, we discuss the dangers of the internet, and because we have an open-discussion type of household, they are accountable for their own actions, and they acknowledge that. I will not allow social media until they are 16+ this is only because i don’t think they need it, they see their friends & family, and make phone calls if there is a distance between them. So what’s the point?

My nephews and niece have autism, they all have an iPad each… This is recommended for their learning! They don’t access the net, only the applications do. However, I won’t allow my children to have an iPad until they can afford to purchase it themselves! We have a computer they can use, which has all the things they need for research, downloads, games, music, tutorials, educations, printing, etc.. They will have iPods, for their 16th birthdays!

I do know some teen girls that seem to download or look at porn more than some boys I know. For instance, my brother accessed images a few times when he was 14-15, but my friend’s daughters (they were 15 & 17) computers was filled with it (downloads, browser history)! And girls that use social media as a dateline!

This is so true I don’t let my kids on the Internet without me present for this reason

There are so many things that we need to monitor in order to keep our kids safe but I think it also think we need to give kids some independance in order to learn responsibility. I worry about many things my boys do – but I watch and restrict only to a point.

My big thing will be alcohol. I don’t believe my daughter should be drinking before she turns 18. I have friends that supply to their underage children and let them go to parties, when I vouce my concerns they say “don’t be silly! They are teenagers, you were a teenager once too”. Well yes I was but I reapectedy parents and authority enough not to drink until I was of legal age. I’m not a prude by any means but I will hold firm on this one

My child went to a school holiday program where he saw a video of chucky and a Freddie Kruger video game plus a clip about a truckie speaking about taking drugs. I work full time and spent one of my evenings getting my son, who has only just turned 9 to sleep after the chuckie incident. Needless to say we reported all of these occurrences to the holiday program staff. It only has to stem from one or two older children, as there is a mixture of ages and the parents who don’t monitor content and you a disaster on your hands. My son has been great and now is ok about the whole chuckie thing, after I explained that it is ridiculously make believe. Still I was cross that he seen it and even crosser the next day after having very little sleep attending to my child.

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  • • Tene replied
    • 19 Jan 2015 , 9:45 pm

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  Gosh I am surprised that a vacation care place exposed children to this kind of content. I used to coordinate vacation care and youth camps and everything was age appropriate. Everything was done to ensure al the children had positive experiences.

I too am a unfair parent but I am more than ok about it. So not happy to lie about my child’s age just so they can get face book

I too an unpopular parent. iPads are used in the family areas and are password protected. No facebook, twitter or Instagram.

my daughter got an ipad for her 10th birthday, we do not have wifi so she can only be online at school where it is closely monitored and has many things blocked also i am the unpopular mum my kids wont be allowed a twitter facebook or intstagram account until they are 16. no exception.

You can also disable or block some functions to help look after your kids.

It is more the older children at risk than the little ones. Peer pressure carries a lot of weight. Just as we teach road safety we need to teach cyber safety. Perhaps there can be this safety taught in high schools with some role plays tomgetnthe message across.

Parents/carers need to monitor devices and also have parental controls on devices as they are still children.

I agree with you completely! Kids are exposed to so much way too early these days. Keep computer time in the family room or where the kids can be supervised while they are young. It gets harder with smart phones as they can access anything on them at any time. When mine were younger, all phones had to be on chargers in the kitchen overnight and weren’t allowed in bedrooms. In the end it is very hard to supervise them all the time. Teach them that some things are out of bounds and hopefully they will be cyber safe.

I was going say, YES! I agree 100% but then stopped. I agree all the online stuff, cyber bullying, etc is horrible. Not to mention the very graphic images that are around. Really, what does a kid need to get online for? Research? But then we have to factor in that we need to be able to contact them after school….
Hey, my daughter isn’t even 2 but she’s used to her parents faces gawking at their iPad screens. She’s got her own toy versions of all that stuff. In my day we used Encyclopaedias & microfiche for research….
I think I don’t mind devices – I just don’t think internet is necessary for KIDS … Some great apps on a device are good, or encyclopaedia discs.