How to Protect our Children from Bad Influences On Line

My daughter who is now 11 years old starts to use the internet for her school works and leisure time. Oftentimes I show her this blog especially if there are inspiring comments. However, there are times I allow her to surf the net without my presence. This is because I am working on an office with no relation of blogging, and my wife is too busy with the household activities. With this, I am afraid with what my daughter would see when she is alone. So I decided to think of ways and did some research, and here is what I got.

Even when they don't intend to, most children run into pornography, gambling and even predators on the Internet. Consider these shocking statistics:

1.0 70 percent (70%) of all 15-17 year-olds who have ever gone online have accidentally stumbled across pornography online, 23 percent "very" or "somewhat" often. (Kaiser Family Foundation study, 2001)
2.0 20 percent (20%) of children ages 10-17 have received a sexual solicitation over the Internet. (The Web's Dark Secret; Newsweek, 19 March, 2001)
3.0 43 percent (43%) of children said they do not have rules about Internet use in their homes. (Time/CNN Poll, 2000)
4.0 17 percent of parents believe their children are posting online profiles, as compared to 45 percent of children who report doing this. (Internet Safety for Kids; Protocol Analysis Institute)

Therefore, we have to use all our rights and strength to keep these bad influences away from the sight of our innocent children. So here are some helpful tips:

1.0 Explain them to your children and its bad effect if they see them. However, you have to use the right words which will depend on their age.
2.0 I have been saying this repeatedly, but I have to say it again. Be the role model. Do not open these sites with adult content in front of your children. But if you really cannot help yourself in doing so, open them only if you are alone, and be sure you close them properly so that there will be a minimal chance that your child will surf on it.
3.0 Monitor your child’s attitude, words and actions very closely. These bad influences will manifest in them eventually. If you smell something fishy, do not approach your child at once because the more you do it, the more he will be interested in doing it. The best thing to do is to find ways to keep them away from your child’s eyes.
4.0 Pornography is not the only bad influence your children must not see. Illegal drugs, gambling, and violence are among them, too. But you will not be on a 24-7 basis to watch over your child so you should have detection-and-hide tools in your PC.

I discovered one, tried and tested it by myself and now recommending you to use it. The website is http://www.k9webprotection.com/. I do not need to discuss the details here because it is very user-friendly and by the way, it is FREE. However, you might be confused on the sudden effect on the blogs (even on your own blog) because it immediately hides some social bookmarking widgets. But you can modify the filter setting anytime. It depends on you.

With this, I would like to thank Mr. Bo Sanchez who unselfishly shares this idea on his site.

NOTE: I am neither inviting nor discouraging you to join his ministry, and I am not in any form connected with him. Religion is a different matter and it is not being discussed here. However, I am strongly suggesting you to visit his site to gain more tips on how to be a responsible parent and individual.

Article Source:Effective Parenting Tips