Parental controls

[Alison]

So, I asked my six year old what the site address was for Sprout (PBS games for kids) and he told me to "just type it into google, Mom" which made me realize that he has ventured beyond just clicking on the saved links we have for him. Goodness only knows what he might come across by typing things into google and I think it's time we add some parental controls/filters to help block potential non appropriate sites. Does anyone here have one they recommend?

I can't believe how fast they grow But on a good note while playing go fish with Aubrey last night the 4 year old said "No, I don't have a queen, but I have a four and a six"....ahhh, the age of innocence

[Corry]

The six year old knows the magic of google!? *sigh* they do grow so fast, don't they?

[JohnMF]

I think google has an inbuilt filter that you can switch on in preferances. It should block out all adult material then. Or at least until you empty your cookies, then i think it will need re-applying

[craig]

I am sure a little investigation will be able to provide the controls you need.


Not a parent, but I am sure nothing is easy. Especially during the formative years. I would consider your guidance as the strongest and best parental control.

[PlasticSpanner]

Seriously why would you rely on automatic filters?

I think children should be supervised whilst on the internet. Whether that means sitting next to them or just checking over their shoulder whilst they're online.

A friend of mine has banned his daughter from the internet (temporarily ) because of the name/welcome message she set up in messenger.

It's going to be a lot more work but eventually the kids will find out how to turn off/get round the filters if they intend to and likewise the bad people on the net will work out wasy past your security too.

Just my opinion and this is the only way my son will use the net until he's 14-16 depending on his maturity.

[Becky]

I agree with Plastic Spanner.... when I started using the net years ago now, I was mainly unsupervised... my parents didnt realise what sort of thing lurked on there and nor did I. Thus, I came across ALOT of stuff, without even looking for it, whether it was talking to the wrong person on lame AOL or typing words which were unknowingly risky/clichéd into yahoo/google and getting an eyeful from the results!

Even something so simple as researching an assignment for school about abortion has led to me never forgetting some of the images I came across...

The internet is evil, evil I tell you!

Although saying all that.... I still turned out (reasonably) normal

[Corry]

While in high school, for history class, I was researching slavery. Yeah....I had a hard time finding much that was actually about slavery.

[hobbes28]

It's not so much the things that he'll explore and find on the internet when we're not sitting there because we're right beside them when they are on the net. It's the fact of things like Corry brought up, when you type something in, things just come up all over the place. I purchase reamers for work a lot of the time... you can only imagine the things that come up. Yes, we can parental block google's search results but, as someone has already mentioned, cookies expire and no matter how fast you close a window, a child's mind is a sponge.

We would be happier all together if he didn't have to be online but the days of hard back encyclopedias are gone. In first grade, he will have to find things on the internet for assignments. We just don't want him to do a search for doggies and see what shows up.

[photogoddess]

Having 4 kids myself, I understand the need for monitoring what they look at on the internet but I also know that it is virtually impossible to watch them 24/7. Think of how many eyes and hands you'd need.

My kids were older when we got internet at home. We gave them some freedom based on trust that they had earned, monitored when ever possible and disabled the internet altogether (once for almost 2 months) when one or more of them violated the trust. I never used any monitoring software but can see that with younger kids, it would definitely have a big benefit.

[Corry]

Yeah...I wish my mom would monitor my little brother more. He's 13 now, but even when he was younger she didn't. I had a password on the computer so he couldn't get on the computer til we put the pass in first, and one day, she was sleeping and he woke her up and she just told him what it was. Yeah...guess what happened? He was on it with his friends and they told him to type in sex.com, and he did...a moment or two later, someone walked in and he tried to shut it down really fast and he crashed the computer. :S *sigh* My parents never listen to me.

[bace]

Think about it this way....atleast you won't have to give them the "birds and the bees" talk.

On a serious note, I don't think my Dad has done anything to sensor my sister, but I don't think she uses the internet that much. My Dad isn't really a computer guy, so I guess she just takes his example.

She knows how to use it by herself, but just doesn't spend hours on it, or feel the need to be on it when no-one is around. I think she just likes video games.

Anyway, I don't really have a point. I feel for your guys. I'm glad it hasn't been necessary to sensor my sister much.

[PlasticSpanner]

Yes filters are quite good but I'd like to be there as well for anything that is missed or anything that I personally think is innapropriate that the filters have allowed.

It is very hard to watch what kids are doing all the time especially when you have a few but would you let your kids cook pancakes on their own?

For a child I would class the internet as a potentially dangerous activity that requires adult supervision.

But back to Alisons original question, Google filters are reasonably good although they missed a dodgy Brittany website when I did a quick test!

Is software like Net Nanny still available? 3-4 years ago it was supposed to be the best available.

[hobbes28]

They know it's an activity that we have to be present for them to do. I don't know if anyone has ever seen our desks but there is no way that someone can be on a computer in this house without everyone seeing it. Our desks are right beside each other and we won't let them online without us being here. The PBS site or noggin they go to doesn't hold their attention for longer than half an hour usually anyway so it's not like long spurts of internet. We're talking like half an hour every two weeks tops.

We had also been talking about it for us to just keep all the porn and pop ups out when you're going around on the net so we could use it for ourselves as well. We just don't like to have that stuff pop up when we're perusing the net.

As for net-nanny... it was the first program I thought of but it now costs $4 a month to have on your system... For that, I'd rather just keep the computer turned off and pick up an old encyclopedia set from eBay.

[mysteryscribe]

And all your research materials that were left over are where now?

[bace]

Firefox has a pretty good pop-up blocker.

Although it doesn't work all the time. Somehow Myspace has gotten around their blocker.

[Alison]

Quote: Originally Posted by bace

Firefox has a pretty good pop-up blocker.

Although it doesn't work all the time. Somehow Myspace has gotten around their blocker.

I'm starting to notice a few pop ups as well (we use Firefox). I was nice while it lasted

[JohnMF]

the google toolbar has a decent pop-up blocker too

another thing you could consider is a router. these allow you to block access to sites that contain certain words. You choose the words you want blocked. If some one tries to access a site with a blocked word the site will not appear, and a report will be sent to your email

[leewald]

My siblings attend a private school where they have a filtering system that banned all websites at first. The administrators have to unlock the websites. It was a bit tedeous at first but after 3 years most of the important sites that the students use are unblocked. If a student needs a certain site, the admin reviews it and will then unblock it if it is appropriate. I think this works well but then again this school only has about 25 to 30 students.

['Daniel']

Don't rely on the google filter it's terrible. So much bad stuff gets through... not that I've tried... I just...

Yep as said Firefox blocks pop ups etc, you could goole (haha!) for something that allows you to block websites with certain words in. sometimes can hinder innocnet surfing but if it is innocent and I suppose it will be at 6 then all you have to do is type in a password.

[Varthlokkur]

Reminds me of the time I was looking for links for the Canadian band Rush. Clicked on a link for Mathew Rush. Lets just say that Mathew was VERY excited about something.