Internet Access

flowerchild

Would appreciate advice.

My six year old has just learned how to bring clip art into his word documents without any help from me. He is very bright and I think is one step away from getting general access to the internet.

He doesn't have his own computer. He uses mine or my husband's, generally when we are in the same room. But sometimes he will get up early and do some typing by himself.

What controls do you use (if any) to stop inadvertantly children getting access to porn? What are the pros and cons of different approaches?

Thanks in advance for helping. I'm a bit lost.

Orion

For starters lock google and youtube. In google click on Settings and select Strict Filtering. Put in your own google login details and then the search is filtered. Do the same in Youtube.

This is not perfect by any means so the best thing is supervision. My girls aren't allowed use google without our supervision. There are filtering programs out there but I'm not a fan of them. I prefer education and common sense as my tools to protect my children.

flowerchild

Thank you. I'll try it out and see how we go.

Moonbeam

He is only 6 so I would only let him use it with your supervision.

Have a look at www.webwise.ie

CrazyRabbit

Macros42 wrote: »

For starters lock google and youtube. In google click on Settings and select Strict Filtering. Put in your own google login details and then the search is filtered. Do the same in Youtube.

This is not perfect by any means so the best thing is supervision. My girls aren't allowed use google without our supervision. There are filtering programs out there but I'm not a fan of them. I prefer education and common sense as my tools to protect my children.

Agreed that education is betting than pure blocking. When you start blocking things, it instinctivity creates curiosity in a child. Supervision is the way to go, at least for a few years until they learn how to use this tool safely.

pickarooney

Don't let them use it unsupervised. We've had a couple of arguments about this at home as the three-year-old will happily click onto all sorts on youtube if he's let. He only wants to watch cartoons but with the best will in the world you're only ever a couple of clicks away from porn.

lazygit

you could use opendns nameservers, create and account and use there webfiltering and blacklists for free..

CrazyRabbit

lazygit wrote: »

you could use opendns nameservers, create and account and use there webfiltering and blacklists for free..

The problem with that approach is that it is like never letting a child cross a road. They'll never learn to do it safely, which isn't going to help them when they get older and more independent.

Safe internet use is a skill, just like crossing the road, cooking, riding a bike etc. Children need to be taught how to do it safely and correctly.

Orion

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

The problem with that approach is that it is like never letting a child cross a road. They'll never learn to do it safely, which isn't going to help them when they get older and more independent.

Safe internet use is a skill, just like crossing the road, cooking, riding a bike etc. Children need to be thought how to do it safely and correctly.

+1

None of those whitelist/blacklists are perfect. So called "dangerous" sites change all the time - no list can keep up to date on a daily basis. All you can hope to do it educate your children to be safe online. Some common sense things like the google-lock above will help initially but awareness is key.

Most importantly make sure your children know that they can come to you with questions. It's inevitable that they will come across something that confuses or disturbs them eventually - they need to be know that they can talk to you about it. That trust will only get more important as they get older.

BostonB

pickarooney wrote: »

Don't let them use it unsupervised. We've had a couple of arguments about this at home as the three-year-old will happily click onto all sorts on youtube if he's let. He only wants to watch cartoons but with the best will in the world you're only ever a couple of clicks away from porn.

+1 Theres also people who deliberate to put adult content in material thats attractive to kids. YouTube is especially bad for that, they dump stuff in the middle of kids cartoons. Almost everything on the web has a link to somewhere else and you just never know where you end up.

Theres a balance somewhere between blocking some stuff and always keeping them supervised. While still letting them have access. Computer in the kitchen only etc. Having different passwords and profiles. Also time should be limited

LegacyUser

I surely hope you have a password on your machines???