So, hmmm what can we do to make parenting harder? I know - let's make 5 Billion free porn sites, create an online community marketed primarily to teens AND create a language for chat rooms comprised entirely of abbreviations that look like "ROTFLOL" and "IMHO", etc.
I'm not a parent, but I know people that are and THEY say that the internet can be a parenting issue/irritation/headache/nightmare/traumatic experience. I'm also not a technology guru, but, I do know enough to offer some helpful tidbits for parents who aren't feeling terribly technologically savvy... As per your request (you know who you are!) here's my two cents...
Porn
Not good - but what's a parent to do? I know the politically correct thing to say is that it's healthy for your kids to exercise a certain amount of autonomy and you need to respect their period of self-discovery. What I'll say instead is - you as a parent have the right to protect your kids. You have the right to tell them porn is bad for them. You have the right to hammer the computer into bits if you feel the need. Students are blasted 24-7 with all kinds of unhealthy media input. Girls are taught that their self-worth depends entirely on being attractive to the opposite sex and guys are taught that their self-worth depends entirely on how "experienced" they can get and how often they gain more "experience"...
If it's an issue in your house, here are some ideas from people smarter than me:
- TALK. Your student will HATE it. But talk to them about it anyway. Not sure what to say? Try this.
- Put the family computer in a community area.
- Keep the password to sign on to the computer to yourself. Your student can wait 30 seconds for you to sign them on, really.
- Get a Content Filter. A really excellent filter is provided by BSafe. For a yearly subscription of $50, your computer blocks access to questionable sites and sends you a report (at the email address of your choice) that tells you all the sites that have been accessed and when.
- Don't be a hypocrite. If YOU are looking at porn, chances are your kid is savvy enough to know it (yes, even if you erase your history.)
- ***New Addition*** Check out www.xxxchurch.com. They market themselves as the "#1 Christian Porn Site" (not kidding). I think their goal is to force churches to openly address porn and sexual addiction - rather than treating it as that one bad yucky sin that we don't talk about at church.
I'll write some helpful stuff on MySpace and chat room abbreviations later... Feel free to comment.
