Have a New Kid by Friday - Dr Kevin Leman [62]
There are 3 facts every parent should know:
• 90 percent of children ages 11 to 17 will be accidentally exposed to pornography on the Internet (without MaxProtect).
• Children ages 12 to 17 are the single largest group of consumers of Internet pornography.
• One million predators/pedophiles are stalking our children and teens on the Internet.5
If you don’t know anything about computers or know just the bare minimum, this is a mountain you have to pay attention to. Go take some computer lessons (or ask your kids to give you some). Find the history button on your computer and use it. Find out what your children are looking at, what sites they’ve visited.
Move your computer to a central location of the house. Computers should never be in a child’s bedroom. They should be in a heavily traveled area where you and others are constantly walking by and can view what’s on the screen.
Because of the dangers of the Internet and the fact that children can inadvertently click on a search word and get directly into a porn site, I suggest that you install a safety card that prohibits downloading objectionable material. For further tips, go to www .protectkids.com.
As a parent, your job is to protect your child from danger, and the biggest danger is sitting right in your home. Computers are not going to go away, so it’s your job to find ways for your child to use the computer safely. But it takes your involvement.
Every child is curious. And it’s not just “bad kids” who come across pornography on the Internet and then get hooked. Dan was a straight-A student who had a lot of friends. He loved to play the guitar and was always the child who helped his mother bring in the groceries from the car without being asked. But when his father accessed the history button on their computer, he found out that for the last 6 months, his 14-year-old son had regularly been accessing a porn site. When confronted with the knowledge, Dan said, “I was Googling something else and clicked on it. At first I was shocked, then I was curious. I wanted to go back and see more, even though I knew it was wrong. I just wanted to see what girls looked like.” Those wise parents, after they got over their own shock, assigned their son a project—to research and write an 8-page paper about pornography, including how it affects the viewer and how it views women. They also moved the computer to a central desk in their kitchen.
B didn’t happen until A was completed either. That meant that before Dan went out with friends, before he even could IM his friends again, the paper had to be completed, turned in to his parents, and approved.
Dan is now in college and says he hates that he ever viewed those images. They still linger in his mind.
Parents, protect your children from Internet dangers. This is a mountain you can’t afford not to face.
Interruptions
Children want your attention, and they want it most desperately when you’re on the telephone. You know the drill well. You escape to some far corner of the house to call a friend, and within 25.5 seconds, a child is on your tail and absolutely has to have something at that very moment. So what do you say? “Just a minute!” And you go on talking.
In another 5.5 seconds, there’s another tug on your arm and a plea for attention. “Just a minute!” you say again.
Within a few more seconds, you have a whiner or a screamer on your hands.
This behavior is not only annoying, it’s a mountain. It may not seem like a mountain, compared to other issues you’re facing thatbother you more, but it is. Why? Because it’s all about respect. If a child continually interrupts you (whether you are working, are on the telephone, or have guests