We hear a lot about the importance of making sure our kids don’t watch too much television. Just two hours a day - far less than many children routinely watch - has been shown to damage the acquisition of social skills.
But did you know that spending too much time at the computer can have a similar effect? Online activities can be useful for developing conversational abilities, especially in older children, but they can result in other areas of mental and emotional growth being underdeveloped.
In some cultures, knowing a person’s name suggests understanding that person so intimately as to have power over them. For this reasons, ‘true names’ given at birth are kept secret, with nicknames taking their place for everyday use.
Though most of us don’t share those superstitions, we would be wise to think in a similar way when using the internet. Identity fraud is one concern. Another is child safety.
Do you know what your children are doing online? Many parents relax about the internet and don’t bother to monitor it on an ongoing basis because they’ve already taken precautions to limit their kids’ online activities.
They may have installed software which limits which sites can be visited, or they may have signed up with a child-safe ISP. Bit do they know what their kids do when they’re not at home?
No matter how hard you try, you can’t be there all the time. This is the most difficult aspect of being a parent. Right from birth, children start wanting to explore the world on their own.
When we think about the dangers of the internet, we tend to think about adult predators and about age-inappropriate material which we don’t want our children to see. What many parents don’t realize is that there are other dangers out there, and some of them come from other kids.
Many parents are intimidated by the internet because their kids seem to pick it up so much more quickly than they do. Kids have more flexible minds and are better at learning all kinds of new things.
For this reason it can be very difficult to limit where they go online. Software intended to restrict their access can often be worked around, or they can simply go to a friend’s house or cybercafé. They’ll have their own ideas about what it’s appropriate for them to explore in this exciting new world - but why is that?
