A couple of years ago my oldest (the seven-year-old) started using the computer to view baby web sites and stuff for the simplest of children. At that time, even though I wasn't really worried about needing content filtering; I knew that someday I would be interested, so I started trying to find a comprehensive web filtering solution that was: easy to set up, difficult to bypass, and cheep. I found all three in K9 Web Protection. It is very easy to set up, I still cant figure out how to turn it off with out the password, and it's free....and it works!
I locked that knowledge away, recommending it to friends when they complained of needing it, but mostly I was watching my children and waiting for when I'd need to install it on my own computers. Well, the time has come. A few days I go I caught the seven-year-old using Google to find a website she learned about at school, something called fun brain. She was searching "funbrain" and clicking on the first result without reading what it was!!!! AHHHHHH! Fortunately this was exactly what she wanted. The first hit was Funbrain, an approved web site; but it could have just as easily been something much worse.
All I could think was, "When did she learn how to use Google?" Until now she had only known how to use the shortcuts I had set up so she could use the pre-approved websites I had chosen. (she is my daughter, I guess what I should have been thinking before now is, "Why cant she figure out how to use Google?") Regardless, it was time to install K9 web protection and so I did.
I'll point out that we do not have a computer in the kid's room. The family computer is out in the open so we can see what they are doing. This is how I knew I needed to take action....If you let your children have their own computer it's something to think about.
0 comments:
Post a Comment