In the next couple of months, my husband and I will be purchasing a new computer. Our current tower is still in working condition, just running too slow for our current needs. We have decided, though, that we’ll put the tower in our daughter’s room, and let her play some games. The computer will not have the internet hooked up. She only has one cable hook-up in her room, and that’s got the TV. That, and while she’s too smart for her own good, I don’t want to take the chance of her going onto a site she’s not ready for.

But it begs the question: How young is too young for the internet?

A lot of sites have the “requirement” of being over the age of thirteen to join them, but do you realize how simple it is to lie about your age? I see and hear of kids doing it all the time.

MySpace is really bad about it. There, you see all sorts of kids, and I mean kids, drunk and/or stoned. Reminds me of the Michael Phelps drama, and yet, nothing is being brought up about those kids, just a man who’s in the eyes of the public because he can swim.

While I’m glad my daughter will not have major access to the internet, when we get the new tower, we will not be blocking her from the internet completely. She’ll have her own login (that she will share with her brother), that will have filters set up so that she can only get to the sites we deem acceptable. Our jobs, as parents, is to protect our children for as long as possible.

What limits do you set on your children’s computer and internet usage?

Photo by mamassage