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As children grow, they begin to get new responsibilities and new privileges. We
expect them to do more chores and to get good grades, but we also allow them to
stay out later and be home alone. But these all come at different ages, as our children
learn to deal with the issues involved. Protecting our children online should not
be different, and we should apply the same standards that we use with children in
the physical world to the online world.
For the most part, we would watch a five-year-old
every possible moment. A young child may easily fall into the pool or run into the
street if we are not there to watch them. The same is true for the internet. While
a five-year-old is unlikely to fall victim to a child predator, we should still
be there for them to develop a communication relationship that will stick with them
as they age.
Eventually, when we know our child is going to look both ways before
they cross the street and not open the door for strangers, we begin to allow our
child some time alone. As they age, we allow increasing privacy and increasing time
either home alone or out alone or with friends. Again, this is the same standard
we should apply online. Once we are confident that we have taught our children how
to avoid child predators and questionable material, we can begin to provide them
with unmonitored time, confident that we have taught them the skills needed to survive
on the World Wide Web.
As they become teenagers, our children begin to take on new
interests and want to try new things. We ask questions to make sure they are safe.
Where are they going? Who will they be with? What will they be doing? And we talk
to them, making sure they know what we expect of them. The same is true online.
Asking the same questions and making expectations known will keep a teenager just
as safe on the internet as it will in the physical world.
Ultimately, the way we
deal with our children in both the physical world and online depends on their maturity
and responsibility. If we apply the same standards in both situations, we can be
sure that we are doing the most to protect our children.
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