How do you help your DC(s) be responsible and stay safe in the real world? Can this be applied online?
One of the main ways I have found to help my children is to be open and honest with them. If they ask a question, or wonder why I am telling them something, if i was to say "because I said so" it would probably encourage them to try and find out what was wrong with it so, without over- dramatising the reasons, I tend to tell the truth. It has worked because, when my 8 year old daughter was about 6, she was playing with a friend at the park, both on scooters and a lady tried to encourage them to exit the park with her. My husband, teenage daughter and my husband's family were all at the park, just slightly out of sight of the exit. My daughter threw her scooter down and ran towards my husband shouting "Stranger danger". No harm came to either girl but the incident was witnessed by someone else and they even admitted that the way the woman had approached the children and spoken with them, the bystander had thought she knew them. In a way, the same applies when my children are online - i they see something untoward, I would rather they call me or my husband to check it or shut it down immediately. I also try to explain the dangers of giving out personal information, or making "friends" online with people they don't know.
How do you help your DC(s) make the most of the online world, and become a safe and responsible user(s) of the internet.
We have four children - 3 are teenagers (19, 17 and 15) and our youngest is 8. Different rules apply to the different age-groups in that my youngest only has internet access at school, on her tablet, or on the family computer. In contrast, my eldest is at uni, so I have no control on her internet usage and all three teenagers have tablets/laptops and smartphones, with access to the internet. There are, however, a couple of general rules which are applicable to all. The family computer is situated in the corner of the lounge (underneath the TV screen). Whilst I do not scrutinize their every movement, I have instilled into all my children that, if I ever see them trying to prevent me seeing a page, then I will make sure I see it and they will not be allowed to go on the internet without direct supervision - as I pay their phone bills, I would also take those away. I did make a naive mistake with my teenage son once - he had a facebook account and, as with the other teenagers who have facebook, I insisted he add me as a friend. I don't go round trying to embarrass them, but want to be able to see what type of thing they are up to. However, I hadn't realised that my son had limited my "friendship" so that I couldn't actually see what he was posting. A couple of family friends mentioned to me that he had been writing inappropriate comments on his facebook (in fairness, they weren't too bad, but he had sworn in one of them). With that, I took his mobile phone away and gave him a very basic phone for emergencies and then banned him from facebook for 6 weeks.
Last time you were choosing your broadband and TV services, how did you make your decision? Was it based on things like recommendations from friends or family, or reviews?
We don't have a huge choice with TV services as we are not in a cable area. However, with both broadband and TV services, whilst I look for the best value possible, I ensure that whichever broadband service I choose, I have the ability to use a content lock. Sometimes these need to be slightly adjusted as they can ban even the simplest site, but at least I have some control on the safety.
How important is the speed of internet in your household? Do you know what your broadband speeds allows you? What do you know about fibre optic broadband?
Whilst I would like the highest speed of internet possible, as previously mentioned, we don't currently have cable in our area, so we are somewhat limited. I did opt for a company that provided unlimited broadband as I would be concerned about how much we would end up paying monthly for going over our allowance.