[Schnitzu]

Here is a great site to help families learn how to use the internet safely and effectively. It is aimed at parents, so that they can learn how to guide/coach their children.

http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/default.aspx

[RT]

Good link.
Some good common sense tips there, and some great kid links within.

Thanks, Schnitzu!

[Big-K]

Being a mid-teen, i consider all those kid links junk(no offense). During my K-8 years, i dont think i knew many people including myself who liked those kind of sites, shows, etc. I always find it really corny when these organizations put together things to guide parents on the net.

Thats just my opinion though.

[Schnitzu]

Hi Big-K. No offense taken. In fact, I agree with you. My 14 year old son is into moto-cross, snow-boarding and gaming. He tends to go to sites that cater to those interests, and, as such, would find the "links for kids" section of the site corny.

But that is not why I posted the link. I posted it more for parents to educate themselves and become Internet-aware. When I browse through the "Security" forum, I see a lot of people who are getting themselves into trouble simply because they do not know about the dangers on the web. A little education would go a long way toward alleviating the dangers.

The sites that my son tends to frequent are often "kid traps" in terms of links to questionable sites, offers of stuff for free, wanting to download spyware, wanting to harvest e-mail addresses for spammers, etc. But, those sites also give him the content that he is interested in. We have discussed the situation with him, and so he is savvy enough to get what he wants from the sites while avoiding the dangers. But many families are not so savvy and learn of the dangers the hard way.

So, yeah, the kid's links are corny, but I still think the site is valuable.

Most kids will find the links that they like from their peers, not from their parents. However, parents need to make themselves aware of where there kids are going and why. Parents need to understand the concepts behind things such as instant messaging, chat rooms, peer to peer networking, etc.

Kids today are very technology savvy. They know, almost intuitively, how to use technology. But often kids may lack the maturity to make responsible decisions when using the technology.

Parents today, on the other hand, should be mature enough to guide kids toward responsible Internet behavior, but do not know enough about the technology to give proper guidance.

My hope, in posting the site above, was to close that kid-parent gap in some small way.

[Schnitzu]

One last comment, Big-K. There quite a large number of teens and mid-teens who are active contributers to this site. The vast majority of them, including yourself, do conduct themselves in a very responsible manner. I hope I did not imply, in my post above, that all kids lack maturity.

By the same token, though, the ones who tend to get their accounts disabled are the ones who consistently act irresponsibly on the site.

Have a good day.