A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind.
~Joseph Weizenbaum
~Joseph Weizenbaum
My daughter is very respectful of our rules regarding the Internet, but also naïve...and I would like for her stay that way for now to protect her innocence. When I discovered in addition to looking up word definitions at Merriam-Webster's Word Central, supplementing math lessons at Math is Fun, looking up maps at Google Maps, and some reference information at Wikipedia that the Princess was windowscreen shopping on Amazon, I began to wonder where else she might wander.
The Princess did tell me that she went to Amazon by clicking on an advertisement on one of her approved sites and I began thinking of all those advertisements that I purposely ignore but would be so very enticing to a young mind willing to ventured in yet untried territories...some being spiritual voids that could tear away her innocence.
Time to lock it down!
Since I do not have alarm going off when she is on the computer nor sleeping cat on the keyboard that she would not want to disturb, I had make do with what I have. I must say though that I do like the cute sleeping kitty.
We are using Windows XP with no built in parental controls and Firefox for our browsers, I was pleased to find ProCon Latte Content Filter as an Add-on for Firefox. Instead of blacklisting certain sites, I set it so she can only go to whitelisted sites of my choosing. Her search engine is Google Safe Search for Kids, but she cannot go to any site not on the whitelist without my password protected approval. It has frustrated her a few times when she was doing some research or searching for desktop pictures for her PC, but if the site seems to be safe, I can add it to the whitelist in just seconds.
Now I am considering one other thing: time limits. I am looking at a free program called Romaco Timeout. The problem is that we are using the computer for lessons now so that could be an added complication. Still, I want her to begin monitoring her time, for her to consider how much time she is spending with email or writing new chapters in one of her many books. Yes, it seems she has a heart for writing.
The Princess did tell me that she went to Amazon by clicking on an advertisement on one of her approved sites and I began thinking of all those advertisements that I purposely ignore but would be so very enticing to a young mind willing to ventured in yet untried territories...some being spiritual voids that could tear away her innocence.
Time to lock it down!
Since I do not have alarm going off when she is on the computer nor sleeping cat on the keyboard that she would not want to disturb, I had make do with what I have. I must say though that I do like the cute sleeping kitty.
We are using Windows XP with no built in parental controls and Firefox for our browsers, I was pleased to find ProCon Latte Content Filter as an Add-on for Firefox. Instead of blacklisting certain sites, I set it so she can only go to whitelisted sites of my choosing. Her search engine is Google Safe Search for Kids, but she cannot go to any site not on the whitelist without my password protected approval. It has frustrated her a few times when she was doing some research or searching for desktop pictures for her PC, but if the site seems to be safe, I can add it to the whitelist in just seconds.
Now I am considering one other thing: time limits. I am looking at a free program called Romaco Timeout. The problem is that we are using the computer for lessons now so that could be an added complication. Still, I want her to begin monitoring her time, for her to consider how much time she is spending with email or writing new chapters in one of her many books. Yes, it seems she has a heart for writing.
~ My Lord, please help me to be wise in how I use my own computer and the Internet so that I will be a good example for my daughter. ~
