Your child and the internet, are you ready?
The internet can be a scary dark place, with many hidden corners and unknowns. However, it can also be a incredibly useful tool that your child can use to grow and become a responsible person. Not to mention between IXL, KidBiz, and many other online forms of homework, it’s impossible to avoid completely.
It’s unrealistic to be able to completely safe guard our children from the internet. I can hear you already, “But I have parental controls set up and I monitor what they look at on the web”. Or, “It’s my device and I pay for the service so I regularly check all their social media and any sites they use”. This may be true, but do their friends have the same parental control? Can you control what they look at on a friends phone or computer? Probably not and it’s, quite frankly, unrealistic. We cannot control our children 24/7.
I had the best intentions too, until I realized that my child knew OUR parental control password for his iphone. How he got it, I will never know. We still use parental controls and monitor what he looks at, but it’s more about having an open conversation about the internet and what is out there. So yes, that does mean talking to your hormonal adolescent/teenager about pornography. Yes, I said that nasty four letter word, PORN.
As I have said in previous posts, it is better to talk with your kid than at them, including pornography. It may be uncomfortable for you, but that’s why I’m here to help prepare you. They need to understand that it’s not real life, it’s fictional, like a movie, it’s not what it is really like. ALLOW them to ask questions, and yes that means you need to be ready to answer them. Having this open dialogue with your child and letting them know asking about sex is not taboo or an off limits topic will help build a relationship with them where they come to you with questions or issues rather than their peers. Here’s a great article for further information.
Do you or your teenager need help? I specialize in working with children, teens and families. Call or book your appointment online today.