1) How many children do you have and what are their ages & genders?
I have one son, who is nineteen and a half.
2) How much time do they spend on the Internet each week?
He now spends hours on the Internet. I have protected him from predators and I have taught him about the various tricks. The one time he did something unknowingly had to do with a dialer that disconnected him from the Internet and hooked him up to Mozambique. To this day, we can't figure out which site did this. This dialer had no warning, nothing to click. But, that was back in the day.
3) How do you supervise Internet time in your home?
When he was very young and we got our first computer, he sat on my lap. That was the only time he was allowed near it. The computer stayed in a public room, rather than his bedroom, until he was sixteen. You are right, cj...adult webmasters are very conscious of the safety and security issues with our children. We are far more responsible than the surfers.
4) If your children are of varying ages, how do you differ your rules in television and internet usage between children?
When he was young, he was allowed to watch television on the weekends and after his homework was completed. If there were a special show, exceptions were made. The Internet was a treat for him; but, he was allowed to play computer games.
5) What type of web sites do your children most commonly visit?
When he was young, my son was on AOL, in the kid section. Since I was always there, I made sure he went nowhere else. He did make use of resources online, such as dictionary sites, encyclopaedia sites, etc. There were great places for him on AOL at the time. Now, he surfs porn, downloads alot of mp3's, talks to his friends from around the country, visits rotten.com and sites like that. I don't supervise him these days. I believe he's competent and able to supervise himself. Besides, he will ask questions when he runs across something he doesn't get.
6) Do your children use the Internet for homework or leisure?
Both
7) Have you ever had a 'situation' arise, funny or serious, through your children coming into contact with inappropriate Internet material?
Yes. When he was fifteen, girls were sending him pics of themselves. They were naked. They were underage. Scared us to death. He didn't realise what it meant, until we explained it to him and then he deleted the pics.
The other occasion was a bondage site. He was young and didn't understand the attraction. Explaining it to him was both amusing and difficult.
8) What are you most scared of your children accessing on the Internet?
Serial killers
9) How do you feel about the accessibility of adult material to children?
I feel it's up to me as a parent to keep him off adult sites. Handing a child a computer, without supervising, is akin to handing him a loaded gun. It's my job to teach, not the filtering software, which can't do it all.
10) What steps do you take in daily life to protect your children from inappropriate material (such as magazines, television advertisements, music video clips and at school)?
I can only protect him from so much. All I can do is try to get the message to my son that he can always ask me. I think I've done that, as he felt it necessary to show me his piercings, no matter where they were.
