I am looking for information about "safe" search engines that my children can use when they go online, also any other advice about keeping them from being exposed to a lot of filth without putting in so many filters that they feel resentful.
I have heard a lot about BESAFEONLINE. It is advertised by Dave Ramsey on 99.7 FM. It is supposed to be one of the best.
W.
OpenDns.com, you create an account & you can add individual sites or click on categories they have there to block them from those sites. And if you feel the website they want is acceptable, you can undo it too. We use that all the time & have been happy with it.
And personally, I don't care if my kids feel resentful. I'd rather them be resentful than to stumble upon some of the filth that permeates the internet. We have 5 children ranging in age from 10-23. Two are on their own now but we restrict the internet for the other 3, 10,16 & 19. We look at their history often & if we find sites we deem unacceptable, they go on the list. IMHO when they are on their own, they can do whatever they want, I wont be there to restrict them. But as long as they are here I can do what I can to protect them & hopefully make them understand WHY we do it. We talk to them about it often. You have every right to be worried about what your kids may stumble upon. I googled 1800's Swedish Clothing once for a homeschool project we were doing & oh my word, the trash that came up WITH PICTURES was awful. Sometimes something so innocent as that, can bring up the nastiest stuff.
So restrict away & don't be afraid of your kids being resentful. We're not in this parenting thing to be popular or to be their best friends. We're here to guide them, protect them & train them in the way they should go. And if that means restricting their surfing the net, so be it. My 2 older kids now understand better why we were so diligent about that.
SO go check out that website, look at their history OFTEN & do what you have to to protect your kids against this garbage. I've seen stories of kids lured away by predators pretending to be their friends & never returning. We are their protectors.
Hi M.,
I recently had a wake up call with our 13 year old son. We *thought* we were doing good... computer in the family room, kids only profile w/parental controls, we look at history, and strict safety when doing google search. Well one of his friends told him about a radio station website (seems innocent enough) and OH WOW! Nothing innocent about pictures that you might see in the pages of Playboy and columns and advice NO 13 year old needs to worry about! And, the parental controls never picked it up. We found it while viewing the history - it came up at the top viewed site that week (suprise!) so it peaked our interest and low and behold, that's what we found. SO, like some of the other posters said, dont' let the controls give you a false sense of security. What we've done now is put the time restrictions on the computer, and they have to have my husband or I log them on. As well as having the security set to HIGH, so most of the time I now have to override just about every site from Disney to National Geographic! LOL! But, it's worth the hassle. The biggest thing too, is we, like others here, talk to them about WHY we're so strict. It really helps because even though they may be upset about it, hopefully they understand. Good luck! Whoever said it got easier as they got older?? lol...
Your school's librarian is a great resource for this. In fact he/she probably has safe search engines posted on your school library's website.
I thought you might be interested in this article:
http://childparenting.about.com/od/familycomputer/a/kidsa...
I'll be interested in reading the responses you get - thanks for asking the question. :-)
Hi M.. Check out Safe Eyes at this link: http://www.internetsafety.com/safe-eyes-parental-control-.... This is highly recommended by Focus on the Familiy and we plan on using this as soon as we get our kids' new computer.
I don't really have an answer for you, but I would definitely talk to them about the real reasons you are protecting them. Make sure they know how dangerous some people are and why you don't want to trust them. They need to know that. Also, reassure them they won't be in trouble for talking to you if something really bad happens like someone that approaches them etc.
Yahoo use to have a search engine for kids called yahoolagians. (sp) I used it with the kids when I was teachign. I have not used in in about three years. It was great if they still have it.
A.
Hi M.!
Sorry for the slow reply on your request. A police officer who works specifically to stop crimes against kids via the internet came and talked to our community group at church about this topic. I have been hunting high and low for the information he gave us but was not able to find it. I did find a couple of brochures that he handed out - I'd be happy to scan them and email them to you if you want to send me a private message with your email address. Also, he recommended a program called "Mandiant Web Historian" which I think is for keeping track of what web sites have been visited on your computer. He also said that there is a video on the internet put out by John Walsh (the America's Most Wanted host whose son went missing and was never found) that talks about kids and strangers vs. non-strangers. The project that this police officer is involved with is called delete online predators (www.deletepredators.com). Other websites mentioned in their brochures are www.NetSmartz.org and www.ikeepsafe.org. Hope this is helpful to you!
Cyndi
We use Open DNS, it is a free filter and you can filter out by content. If a harmless link accidentally falls into a category, you can unrestrict that particular link without lifting the whole category.
