Parental Internet Control Software - What Parents Should Do

For the majority of Internet users with children, the internet in the home, or even in a child or teen's bedroom, is a wide open door to the world. That is, few parents take time the time to investigate parental controls on their children's internet. Some feel that the school will most likely educate their children on the subject. Others assume their children are responsible enough to handle it.

Parents Need to Educate Themselves in Computer Literacy

While many parents may not be fully computer literate, some being from a generation where computers were not emphasized, most young people and many children are fully computer literate. This puts parents at a disadvantage in guiding their children to handle cyberspace safely.

Parents, then, need to educate themselves about the internet and how their children are, or might be, using it.

Supervise Your Child's Internet Use and Teach Them

Most experts agree that the internet should be used in a public area under parental supervision. However, parents also need to take time to educate their children in the safe use of the Internet and to warn them of the possible dangers of it. That means that parents themselves need to be educated on this topic and familiarize themselves with the internet and how it is being used today by young people.

Parental Internet Control Software Adds a Layer of Protection

Additionally, parental internet control software adds another layer of protection for children and teens, in their home internet use. Blocking harmful sites and monitoring use or controlling the time spent on the Internet is of value for some children and teens.

Not every child or teen uses or is tempted to use the Internet inappropriately, but many can get ensnared in unwise liaisons, social isolation or introduction to pornography along with ensuing pornography addiction. Don't assume it won't happen to your child, because if very likely can. Pornography addiction can as hard to break as heroin addiction for some, and parents will do their children a favor by shielding them and educating their children in the risks of pornography addiction, and the harm it can do.

Parental Internet control software isn't a full solution but can be part of a solution for parents who really care about the welfare of their children. It is recommended for anyone who has the Internet in the home and who has children of any age.

You can learn more about parental internet control software on the Association for Youth, Children and Natural Psychology website, http://www.winmentalhealth.com/parental_internet_control_software.php

There are five pages that deal with the subject, including notes from a Newark, NJ public school special meeting on Internet Safety and young people.