Jeanette wrote this post yesterday – if you have a child, even a small one – go and read it! I have also written about why I will check my children’s phones.
The last two days we have had to deal with a few issues relating to online behaviour and set some boundaries. This is unknown territory for us as parents, our parents never had to deal with it so we are really setting the rules for how to deal with it which is why I thought I would share the two issues we are currently dealing with.
The first issue is sharing of photos. Fortunately nothing inappropriate has been shared from our side but there has been, almost, obsessive requests for photos from one of the kids one of my kids chats to. I know the child in question, there are some issues in their home which is why it does raise some alarm bells for me. As a result both kids were told about what photos they can share and what photos they can receive. I made it clear that we must be told about inappropriate images immediately and that I WILL be checking!
The second issue is probably a little more serious and one I think we will have to have regular chats about. It is the fact that when you share something online you can never delete! We have all seen the results of tweets, FB updates and blog posts written in anger or posted in the heat of the moment. You can delete your accounts but someone will screenshot it or quote it. It will always, always be there! Even Whatsapp messages. I tried to explain to them both that once it is online you can’t take it away and that if I find out they are saying negative things about other people their phones will be taken away indefinitely. This does relate to the photo sharing topic, once a photo is sent to another person you have no control over what they do with it!
I have been online for over 6 years and I am still making mistakes and learning what to do and what not do and I have the wisdom of age and experience on my side – my children do not have that. Yes, they may probably learn a lot quicker than me but I really don’t need them to learn by sending an image that goes viral amongst their friends.
I will say this again and again – you can not be naive about this! You can not hand your child a phone that has access to the WORLD WIDE WEB and trust that they will make they right choices! You need to guide them, teach them and know what they are doing! Dealing with your children being online is your responsibility, you need to take it seriously.
