Kids and Internet Use

Sorry I can't help you with this one, but I am sure others will do

Thanks Dagmara. I am sure I'm not the only one with this problem.

My niece got her own laptop for Christmas a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what programs my brother uses to limit her internet access. She was big into Webkins when she first got it. I think she's a little young to have her own laptop. That's my opinion.

I was just on Facebook and saw my cousin's son listed in the "people you may know" section. He's nine!

JoAnn I knew my kids were a bit sheltered, but seriously Facebook:)

I have been keeping my fingers crossed that they would not discover the wonder of the Internet other than what we showed them, but I knew it was just a matter of time.

My husband fixed up an old desktop about a year ago, and this is what the boys use to play all of their educational games.

I am thankful that the internet was not around when my children were growing up.....I wish you the best of luck keeping them viewing only what you wish them to view.

My oldest son browses the internet. The computer is in the living room so that I can see what he is doing. My rules are: no chatting, no downloading and he is only allowed to use sites that he has heard of before. No random sites found on google.

My oldest has homework on the internet sometimes, so it's not possible for me to ban it. I always make sure that he understands why each rule exists.

My youngest plays on Nickjr, but when I can't sit with him, he has a Fisher Price Internet Launch Pad. It only allows sites that correspond with the characters that are included with the launch pad. You can't access the internet as a whole or anything on the computer like the control panel, files, etc. so that little ones can't mess up your computer.

Can you program other sites onto that also or is it just the ones they have pre programmed?

You can buy extra characters to put into the launch pad, but you can't program sites into it.

Each character is a different website.

That launch pad thing sounds interesting Lisa.

I will warn you, it gets worse when they get older and figure out all the stops. Boys tend to discover the porn sites real quick

Oh, yes I figure that much:) I have two brothers:)

Sorry, I can't help here either

No advice here other then never ever let them have their own computer in their bedroom, especially not with a webcam...

That will never happen:) The computer they play at is in the living room, and we do not have the web cam connected.

Oh ... I feel your concern. I don't know what I would have done if there would have been computers around when my son was younger.

We have our two older kids set up with their own user accounts and each one has a link to their favorite sites on it. But like you said, they have also discovered the sites outside the ones I've provided so I had to give them some limits. I don't know how to set it up so downloading is prohibited for them though I think that is possible.
I have told Zachary that he is not allowed to click on ads (most of the ads on the kids sites will say "ad" on them so he usually knows what they are now) and he is absolutely forbidden from downloading anything without asking. If he does he loses it for a LONG time! So far that has been 100% successful :) If he finds a new site he is supposed to tell me about it so I can look over it and he is not allowed to register on any sites without telling me. Then we set it up together. Many of the sites where kids can register it is required that an adult approve it by having it sent to their email address and even though Zachary is 8 he believes that he can't do it unless I approve, which is good for me!
Amara can't read yet but she can find her way around pretty well. She is supposed to ask before trying to get to any new sites (ones that aren't on her start menu) though she sometimes messes up and ends up in new places. She has never made it outside of a child-friendly site and she usually doesn't have enough time to get far because I check on her often.

Oh another tip would be to search the net yourself for sites you approve- there are TONS of fun sites. Just do a search for educational sites for toddlers or something similar. Then create a blog for each of them, or one for both of them together that they can click on to open the internet- make it their start page or add it on the bar at the bottom of your computer. Then tell them that they are not to go to any website unless it's on that list, or they ask mom or dad if they can add it. If they happen upon one by accident it's their responsibility to tell you right away so that you can look it over and let them know that if you find out (with the history) they have been on an unapproved site without telling you that they will have the internet taken away for XX amount of time.

Some of the Windows software have parental control where you can act like an administrator and only allow other users to go to certain pre-approved websites, If they go to a website that isn't approved, you have to manually approve it for them. It works pretty well unless you leave your part of the network open.

The only drawback is going to be when they have to do certain reports for school that may involve going to sites that don't always have children-friendly content, such as news sites. You would have to approve it for their schoolwork and then un-approve it each time they finish.

My kids have my old computer, it's set up right next to my desktop. They are allowed to use it but can only go the the sites in their favorites list. They aren't allowed to search/surf the web or anything like that. They do as they are suppose to, no issues here!

I have parental controls. It came with my internet provider software. I have to approve the websites for them to be able to access.

Well I don't let Elliott on the computer yet, but we will probably start within the next couple of months...

We haven't had this problem yet, since Elliott is only allowed on the computer if he is sitting in my lap and he knows it. Otherwise if he wants to play, he has to play with one of his toy computers (he got two different ones for Christmas last year from two other people). I know that it probably won't be long before he realizes that he can get somewhere online without my permission, though. I guess then I will have to set up his own username and go from there.

You should talk to them about how some sites can hurt the computer, which would then mean that they wouldn't be able to use the computer.

Also, ads can be blocked. That would help to curtail some issues.

I would suggest a special folder for them filled with bookmarked sites that won't crash the computer or expose your kids to things that they aren't quite ready for. Have a nice selection of sites for them to choose from and add to it periodically.

I'm not a fan of filtering software. For one thing, it blocks too many useful things while allowing through many of the things that you had wanted to block.

My parental controls consist of 1: Computer in the common areas 2: List of rules expected to follow 3: password control of everything, including all thier sites IE:facebook and the like, 4: unbeknownst to my kids I have a keylogger installed to track exactly what they do and where they go. Haven't had any probs yet!

I agree with alot of the above suggestions.
I will also add, don't let your child use the computer until they are ready to be trusted. If you have a 6 year old who will not listen if you are not right over their shoulder, do not let them play by themselves. If you have a tween or teen who already has been known to break the rules (on purpose or accident) do not give them the trust of using it unsupervised.
Keep the computer in a room you are often in. Kids do not really NEED privacy to check email or play games.... ever.
My 12 year old is really awesome about asking me which sites she can sign up with and what she can click to check out as far as ads go. She has been talked to alot about internet safety and how to properly keep the computer safe as well.
It also seems to help if you keep them busy while on it. Limit the play time on the computer so there is less time to sit there and surf or just click around. Make it where the time on it is spent with the things they want to do, and when they start acting bored, have them go do something else.

Remeber that screen time is not just TV and handheld games, it includes the computer. All screen time should be limited each day so that kids do alot of other stuff as well. Moving, physical play, drawing, reading... None of these things should be excluded from their day, and the more time doing these things, the less time to worry about them using internet/computer safety.

Oh, my daughter who is 12 also is made to write down her logins and passwords. She knows I CAN go check and see what she does where, and so far I have not had any reason to double check her.

Sounds like some good advice.

My 11 year old has a Facebook account and has gotten into so much trouble with it that she's grounded for a month, if she isn't actually arrested. This, with me checking every 20 minutes or so to make sure of what she was doing. I never catch her doing anything wrong, but she does. They are teaching them internet use at school, so I have almost no control over that, but she cannot use my computer any more. I have all of her passwords, but it still isn't enough. Parental controls just don't cover it! She can get around all of them in record time. I've had screaming parents on the phone, and a call from the police!

With instant messaging, social websites, email, etc., there is a lot of bad stuff out there on the Internet for kids to get exposed to. McGruff has free software, but it only works on certain versions of Windows and not on a Mac. Check it out, http://www.myownhelpdesk.com/displayDetailedTip.php?id=25.