Spin off of La's Children and Computers...

[Penny Springmann]

So the boys have lappys (hand-me-downs from Paul's office) but right now they have full access, no parental controls...nada...so now that they are getting older, I think we need to add some. What type of parental controls/software do you use? Do you recommend it?

Thanks!

[lauren grier]

We use the Microsoft parental stuff that came with win 8. Clearly this has not stopped him from Dl toolbars lol. But otherwise until today I've been happy with it

[Lyd]

Our kids are currently computerless. But, when they had one, we used OpenDNS. It's free and it gives you a lot of control as far as blocking certain categories of content and particular sites. Because our kids are so young, we pretty much blocked the entire internet and then white listed the sites that they were allowed to go to. It was mostly just simple things like PBS kids and some educational stuff. It also made it so that they couldn't go to any sites from ads that they might click on. That was all they needed at the time, but I'm sure the older they are, the more you have to open things up. I don't know that OpenDNS does much as far as viruses goes, though. I can't remember if we used it for that.

[lauren grier]

Yeh that's the problem we are running into Lydia the fact that he IS older and I can't block google. Lol. I suggested we block everything but two sites he uses for class but realized quickly he uses the internet for school outside of those. Ugh. All naughty stuff is blocked but clearly there's viruses everywhere.

[MommaTrish]

We use the Microsoft stuff and have it set so that they can only download things with the administrator password. We also have web controls on and their profiles won't unlock during certain times. It's worked well for us for the past few years.

[melissakay143]

I will soon be in your shoes, but all I can think of is that scene in that movie "Crazy, Stupid, Love" where the mom and son are in the office and the son says "i hear you crying, i tried to google 'mom crying in bed' you don't want to know what i saw" the mom replies "but i have those parental controls on there" he says "yeah it's not fort knox i can get around them" I just think about that all the time... are they helping or just making the kids sneakier?

[mariewilcox]

Originally Posted by melissakay143

I will soon be in your shoes, but all I can think of is that scene in that movie "Crazy, Stupid, Love" where the mom and son are in the office and the son says "i hear you crying, i tried to google 'mom crying in bed' you don't want to know what i saw" the mom replies "but i have those parental controls on there" he says "yeah it's not fort knox i can get around them" I just think about that all the time... are they helping or just making the kids sneakier?

Honestly, I think most teenagers (and probably some younger kids) are capable of getting around things. We never blocked anything on from DS and I haven't for DD either (she's in 8th grade). I used to do surprise checks on DS and never found anything horrifying. We were always in the camp of trusting until not trustworthy. DD's school does a good job of making the kids paranoid about the internet and DD knows what she should not ever do while on line (same with their cell phones). I've taught her my set of standards and told her I expect nothing less from her. I don't censor books either or music. So yeah, I'm probably on the "bad mom" bench

[rach3975]

Right now we're using the Microsoft controls and Norton 360. It's fine, but I have a feeling there are better things out there. We already had it for backup and virus protection, so we just started using the parental controls through it, too. (Though if I remember correctly, the parental controls were something they walked us through on the phone when I called about something else; we couldn't just check a box to enable them. They need to change that.)

My oldest is 10 and using a wide range of sites for school, so we're also at the point that specifically choosing sites he can access wouldn't work anymore. At first we were just talking about it and trusting, and then last year my normally very trustworthy DS started clicking on ads that were taking him to sites he shouldn't have been on. So we took away internet access on any device he can be out of our sight with (his DS) and started using the parental controls through Norton 360 that we hadn't bothered with when the kids were younger.

Last week he was working on a research project online, and at the end he told me he was going to wipe his history. WTH? Which friend taught him about that? I know what he was doing online and there was nothing he would have felt any real need to hide, but apparently this is the new "tech savvy and cool" thing all the 4th graders are doing. Ugh.

[Penny Springmann]

Thanks, all.
Yeah, it's a tough call. One part of me thinks, well, they are going to find it anyway. I'd rather it be here so I can discuss it with them. We've talked about the internet and that there are places you shouldn't go, people lie, etc.

We have the chrome adblock installed and Vipre for viruses and such. These two are a good start.

[Traci Reed]

My current internet lockdown is me yelling "WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?!! ARE THEY CUSSING?! DID HE JUST CALL SOMEONE A DOUCHEBAG? TURN IT OFF! Yes, yes I know, you hear me say douchebag all the time, but it's different when mommy says it...NOW SHUT IT OFF!"

[Penny Springmann]

Yeah, that pretty much is our approach right now. hehehe.

[joelsgirl]

So listen, there's a kid at my church in middle school who's had to do in house treatment for a p*rn addiction that started online! That is some scary stuff.

Our son is 9, and he's always googling Minecraft stuff, but all the Minecraft stuff isn't kid friendly. I don't think he'd intentionally click on a rouge link, but he might on accident, and I definitely don't want him exposed to that trash.

I think we're going to use Covenant Eyes; it came highly recommended from a friend. You can use it on all of your devices, and it has filtering software as well as accountability.

[MommaTrish]

Oh Penny, adblock has made SUCH a huge difference in the kids and internet. The boys kept finding sites they shouldn't through ads on other sites, one site was horrible about having porn ads so I had to block it. Now there are no ads and none of them are clicking off site to go other places.

[Penny Springmann]

Kellie, that's terrible!!

I'll check out Covenant Eyes. I want to trust the boys, but at the same time, I do need to protect them. It is far too easy to accidentally stray into bad territory.

[mummytothree]

I've not found one I like or was reliable so we've just limited our kids to only using it for homework, in my office/craft room with tons of supervision!! Hahaha!


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[jaylensmom]

I'm at that stage too...my son has his own iPad...right now I'm more like Traci but soon I know I will have to put restrictions on it...

[staciahall]

Beware of some of them, they make the computer SO SLOW. At least make it on a computer you don't plan on using. Back in the day I had any control over what he looks at online, I had a program on the computer I occasionally used. It was so slow I wanted to throw it out the window. Hopefully, they've improved this by now.

[Stacey42]

We have adblock and various virus stuff because they cannot resist downloading Minecraft skin packs, most of which seem to come with browser hijackers to some ad paid search site.

Our parental control is that the computers are in the kitchen, which everyone has to walk through to get anywhere else in the house. I see what they are doing all the time. They can't hear me coming & switch screens because they have headsets on most of the time.

And I just randomly sit down and view their browsing history. If I see something I don't like they get no computer, if their history is missing, they get no computer. Mostly it's football & Minecraft videos with a few random searches. I don't mind the language things. Mostly I keep watch for violence.