Spreading the Cyber Love to My Kids

I am a freak for technology. I am seriously in love with my Blackberry. So when Best Buy got in touch and asked me about my kids and the internet I was happy to oblige.

I have a home-based office. I am at my computer a whole lot. My philosophy is, technology is awesome but only if you know how to use it. And who better to teach my kids about the internet than me.

I hear so many of my friends talking about how their kids want an email address or want to instant message or get on Facebook and they won't let them. They won't let them because they are scared. They are scared because they don't understand it. It is foreign and intimidating and they read somewhere, sometime that these things are bad.

Knowledge is power. So, I spend time with my kids online. We browse sites, research projects, and I moderate communications. I want them to be experts but I also want them to understand and respect what's out there.

Plus, if I need to, I can just look over my shoulder:

Comments

[Jess]

The internet is an amazing resource for kids and it should be embraced. Like most things it just needs a responsible approach!
Email can be fantastic too, letting kids communicate with relatives, their friends, their teachers. But adverts and spam are enough to put most people off, no one wants email to their children advertising viagra!

Email systems do exist with no ads and no spam AND parental controls though and that is a good solution to let kids discover the internet safely.

Jess
SAFEnSOUNDmail.com

[jess]

I know what you mean my husband is a computer freak he is like a freaking genius on a computer and he started teaching my 4 year old computer stuff now she can do almost everything on the pc she is now a technology addict too.lol.

[Anne]

The internet is an amazing tool for kids to use. But I have to say I miss the old set of encyclopedias we had when I was growing up. Sometimes I would sit for hours going through them flipping the pages and learning about all kinds of different things. I suppose that hotlinks in the text of a Wikipeida entry do the same thing but it just does not seem the same.

[Kath]

My kids love the internet, too. And I agree, knowledge is power. We owe it to our kids to help them learn to use this amazing tool responsibly.

Hilariously cute pic, btw!

[Candace]

I can't imagine life without the technology we use now - a computer, cell phones, iPods, digital cameras, etc. For our kids, this will all be as normal and ubiquitous as microwave ovens (I can't imagine living without one, but we somehow grew up without them). Even my 4 year old understands the internet - she and my husband look up picture of high-end sports cars, and watch short videos of luxury-car street races in the Middle East! They've also looked up movie trailers. She isn't into email yet, but I'm sure that will happen sooner or later, especially when her older cousins start sending her photos and messages.