This summer, we’ve been talking a lot about pornography’s impact on our kids, the sexualization of our youth and some of the other online dangers parents need to be aware of. As we’ve started to dig into these issues, we’ve been stressing the importance of parental involvement and communication. Ultimately, we want your kids to be able to enjoy the many benefits of the web, free from the dark side.
We also want to hear from you, and we have heard from many of you in the blog comments and in our community on Facebook (where we’ve had some especially lively conversations!).
As we’ve started to talk about the dangers of online predators and online friends, I’d love to know whether you’ve ever discovered that your kids were talking to online strangers, and if so, what did you do?
I know that when I’ve talked with kids, one thing they share is that the word “stranger” doesn’t really resonate with them. When they meet people online, they don’t view them as “strangers”—often, they are introduced to new people online through friends or friends of friends, and they feel that, through these loose connections or even through shared interests, they can trust these people. Maybe when you’ve confronted your kids, you’ve wrestled with this disconnect as well.
All of us could stand to benefit from your “lessons learned” with regards to parenting today. Each week this month, we will be posing a question for you to answer, and, at the beginning of each month, we’ll post some of the most helpful feedback you all provided to encourage one another as we parent in the virtual world.
I’m looking forward to learning from you.