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 Keeping
Kids Safe on the Internet
You finally teach your elementary child to look
at both ways-really look, not just quickly shake her or
his head back and forth-when crossing the streets. You
successfully explain the idea of strangers as a concept
slightly more complex than "any man with a beard."
.
Then, you come to the Internet: a window on the world
that puts imaginable and unimaginable) resources at your
child's fingertips. "Look at both ways" and "don't
talk to the strangers" seem quaint admonishments in
the face of a place as vast as cyberspace.
The Internet is a bustling frontier where brilliant pioneers
hawk the latest information; but pedophiles, scam artists,
bigots, and other unsavory characters wander cyberspace
too. "Unfortunately, it is very easy to stumble onto
the dark side," says Ralph Bond, who along with Mark
Ivey, wrote The PC Dads Guide to Becoming a Computer-Smart
Parent. Take an innocent key word like "food,"
and pornographic site links might pop up on your screen.
That's enough to make some parents simply pull down the
shades, refusing to get online.
The avoidance approach may work for a while, but not for
long. Everyone can't avoid the Internet, nor should you.
On one hand, your kids are going next door, to school, to
the library, to stores where they can surf the Web. On the
other hand, while the Web includes some areas of darkness
and smut, most Internet contents are good, offering children
and adults the learning opportunities. However, letting
kids wander the Web unfettered, without rules, is not the
answer, either.
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