We all know the stories about 2-3 year olds playing Playhouse Disney on the computer with mom and dad. Just this weekend my 8 year old nephew and 10 year old niece showed me the websites they built on freewebs.com where they posted a few of their favorite games (it was great to see classic Pac-Man included!), as well as some cute quizzes and guest books to sign. So the question is not when do children start using the computer because I think we have more than enough proof that use of computers starts pretty early, but at what age should our children get social online? What messages do parents need to communicate to their kids? How good are the security policies on places like Facebook and MySpace AND are parents even aware of them?

When speaking with a few other GenX/Boomer parents this week it was interesting to hear that they were all aware of the dangers of letting their 12-15 year old children…especially their daughters on social networks, however not one of them could talk about the different security options on the sites. I was amazed that people that claimed to be very involved parents had not even visited the sites to see what they’re all about. Even if you “ban” a site from your home computer, do you think your kids aren’t logging on from their friends’ computers, or other places?

Look, I know there are crazies out there that take advantage of children online, but kids will get online one way or another so parents need to get involved sooner rather than later. As many internet safety sites state, in the end it all comes down to the time tested policy of open and honest communication with our children. Speaking to them about how the internet works, what is and is not appropriate behavior online and what concerns you have. Simply cutting off access or “spying” on your kids is not the answer. So, put away the PDAs and cell phones and have a straight forward talk to your kids. Am I preaching to the choir here? How do we reach those parents that are not electronically connected?

To those readers with pre-teen or teenage children please share your thoughts. What has worked/not worked for you?

For those interested, below is a small sample of the many internet safety sites available for both kids and parents:

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA,  posts a list of safety rules for kids. Other sites include:

Safe Kids.com

Kids Health

For other info. an interesting UK Study was discussed by Andrew Keen