minors on the internet

[Siúil a Rúin]

Having visited my adolescent aged niece recently i was put in mind of the pitfalls of the internet. The early adolescent child is the single most vulnerable to inappropriate advances. This is because they are just beginning to experience sexual inclinations and the emotions that go along with these, but have not developed the skill to regulate all this complexity. It is common for this age child to develop crushes easily on their peers and adults. This is because they need reassurance. Our society sends mixed signals to children. Some are highly sexualized images seen in their celebrities and toys. Often children will seek out inappropriate interactions because of this. One extreme example was Mary Kay Leutourno's claim that it was her student who pursued her. Oprah was molested at 14 by an uncle and her father said he never understood - did the uncle rape her? Oprah said it well when she said, "It doesn't matter how it started. The adult is the one responsible to create the boundary. They are in control."

For those of you who are parents (or anyone), how do you safeguard your children against getting inappropriately involved online?

 

[Totenkindly]

One extreme example was Mary Kay Leutourno's claim that it was her student who pursued her.

Tangential, I know... but I think we need to deal with men/girl and women/boy cases of molestation differently because the dynamics are different. (One can create a typical predictable "man/girl" scenario, and this one differs from the "woman/boy" scenario.)

For those of you who are parents (or anyone), how do you safeguard your children against getting inappropriately involved online?

I will have to start thinking about it. Right now, my children use the 'net but only a few particular sites and aren't really into the chatroom/e-mail/IM activities.