A parent’s instincts are to protect their kids. We pick them up from school, check who they might be playing with outside and when they leave the house, we worry like hell that they might be in danger in some way.

That’s pretty normal and generally an accepted way parents behave. Yet most parents hand their kids a computer, get them online and allow them surf, chat and email without a second thought.

If you think about what is available on the internet for example, then who would in their right mind let their kids wander around some of the websites available nowadays?

Would you take your child into a dubious area of a City, and let them hang around, watching lowlifes and ner-do-wells, practise their trades? Of course you wouldn’t, but letting a child free on the internet is tantamount to the same thing.

And this is an interesting social question, why do most parents turn a blind eye to what their kids are doing online? Some reckon it’s due to the fact that many parents are in that generation which did not grow up with computers. Thus, many feel inadequate when it comes to exactly what a computer can actually achieve and provide. But this, when you think about it, is almost a convenient cop-out. You don’t really have to understand the hardware, in order to use the software. And okay, many parents might not be as knowledgeable as their kids when it comes to MySpace, or Facebook, but surely, few can honestly say that they do not realise what the internet actually contains. You have to have lived on Mars for a few years not to have heard of the world wide web and its dangers.

Maybe it’s the sense that if you are surfing in your own house, then surely you must be safe. That how can an innocent box and keyboard sat in the corner of the room, really be a portal to all the nasties out there?

What people have to think about is that the internet is like a massive library that basically contains an example, text, or otherwise, of everything that there is the world. It may not contain it in detail, or be accurate, but whatever you want, good, or bad, it is there in abundance. The knack with the internet is sifting out the dross from the quality; much like life really.

The internet is relatively speaking quite young, having started as a way of military establishments talking to each other over a network of linked computers. It then flourished, but unfortunately, as mainly a means of distributing and getting revenue for pornography.
It’s not alone in that dubious distinction, with much of the growth of the video and DVD market coming from the porn companies which saw mass media as a way of getting their business mainstream.

So given its none too salubrious start, it’s no wonder that a major part of the internet is devoted to the porn business. And in an effort to make parents aware of what their sprogs can access online, a recent television programme gave a group of people with kids a quick tour of the internet. What they saw shocked them, but it was explained that it was very probable that most of their kids had likely seen worse, from an early age, and had almost become bored with it and moved on. Of course, some kids don’t move on and the material they see on the internet, which can be truly distasteful and disturbing, can affect them for many years.

But it’s not only pornography that is the worry. The internet is a medium for those that want to spread dissent and hatred in the world. Have a trawl of some sites and you’d be pretty miserable with life. And if you feel depressed, then imagine how your kids would feel to too much exposed to the horrors of the web.

But lets not be too hard on the internet. It is a wonder of technology and it has, and will continue to make our lives easier as it transforms itself into newer and more comprehensive versions. The ability to be able to sit anywhere with a computer and a link, and have effectively a portal onto the world’s knowledge, is an incredible feet of human endeavour. And controls will take over, once more cross-border agreements come into force and more rules are laid down about what and what not can be accessed

Of course, there are many that do not see the internet as something to control and fight over, like a piece of territory in the Old West. They think back to the old days when the internet was a pioneering place where anything went and it was all the better for it. They may have a point, but those days are long gone, and the internet, like most things in Western culture, is the plaything of governments and the big corporations.

As a parent, there’s three main things you have to worry about: content, bullying and grooming.

You don’t want your kids to view pornography, or sites that stir racial tensions, or advocate a way of life that is out of kilter with normal behaviour.

Bullying, whether its via threatening texts, or messages on Facebook, can be very worrying for your kids, so although it’s difficult to stop, and most of it is thankfully harmless silliness, pick up the vibes if you think you’re kids are getting harassed online, then step in and sort it out.

And, finally, the internet has the ability to step inside your house and take control of your kids. If you watch the news, then you will no doubt have heard about paedophiles who lurk around online chat rooms and enter into a dialogue with a child that had one aim, to groom them for their later exploitation.

Kids can be especially poor at being properly cynical when it comes to innocent conversations on the net. And what they might think is someone of their own age, or gender, innocently chatting about the school day, might be some manipulative middle aged man getting their kicks out of life.

The internet is a true wonder of the world, but just make sure, when it comes to your kids, then you look after them whilst they’re enjoying it.

Keep an eye on what they are doing and use Parental Control Software.

Understanding the Need To Protect kids Online – Recap

• don’t let your kids loose on the internet;
• internet is like a massive library, with good and bad books;
• internet exploited by porn industry;
• Governments and corporations trying to control and sanitise web;
• worry about content, bullying and grooming;
• always use Parental Control Software.