Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMercenary
Check this out:
Lauren Kerr Thomas knew the right words to woo a 15-year-old girl he met in an Internet chat room.
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My daughter is six years old. She already knows that there are people on the internet that want to take her away from us. Because her mother and father have told her so (in appropriately couched language). My seven year old son not only knows better than to fill out personal info (all the kids sites want their address and birthday - but they are clever - they ask for the month and day in one place then their age in another so as to piece it together) but he knows why they want it and how they use it to his disadvantage. We have (hopefully) instilled a desire to withhold that information rather than simply preventing him from providing it.
Its a lot harder the way we do it. Sometimes I have to restrain myself when I see my son follow the links and end up on a video game site with games that I think are excessively violent and desensitizing. But rather than freak like he just found the Playboy channel in the middle of Debbie Does Dallas, I watch him play for a minute then give him some reasons to decide for himself that the game he is playing is not a wise use of his internet time.
I want my kids to learn how to make decisions. That's going to involve them making lots of mistakes. Hopefully, when Daddy is no longer around, they will remember what they have learned.