Internet parental control

From: Peter Vogel (pvogel@ibm.net)
Date: Sat Jul 10 1999 - 20:57:20 EDT


Having recently seen from my internet logs that my 11 yo daughter had
accessed some porn sites, I have been thinking about how to respond. I
thought first about internet filtering software. Some people have
suggested that blocking certain sites is not the answer, and that children
should be relied on know what is right and what is not to look at.

Well that's a point. I am not sure of the answer. My main concern
is that undesirable sites do come up by accident. For example, when I
asked my daughter why she had been looking at porn sites, she said she
did a search for something about teenagers, and high on the hit list was
"teen pics" which turned out to be a porn site.

I have had similar surprises, so don't find this hard to believe.

So this raised the whole issue of how to educate our children about
pornography, whether we ban it or allow them to choose etc. So far I
haven't faced this subject with my girls - 7,9, and 11. I do not shy
away from discussing sex in a healthy way. They have been familiar with
basic sex information, condoms, periods, tampons etc since they first
asked questions.

Like all children they (unfortunately in my view) know about Clinton's
sexual indiscretions.

So how to explain why they shouldn't seek out pornography?

I expect that this is a question that many educators have explored, so
any thoughts welcomed.

Best wishes,
Peter
pvogel@ibm.net



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