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September 22, 2008, 6:13 pm
Flag as Inappropriate mikey  

Now of course this does not fall really into what this site is about, but if we are going to teach our kids to be safe with growing up and taking care of their health shouldnt we do the same for when they are online.

A friend had this happen the other day, their child was about 14 I want to say, said she was not feeling well, went online and ended up telling her mother something insane was wrong with her, then brought it up at the doctors when they did go. The doctor pulled the mom aside and asked her how often she lets her teen self diagnose when online.

Total shock.

We all have to be careful about going online or reading books or magazines and then trying to self-diagnose. Anyone can put up a website and claim to be a medical doctor. They may even have a medical degree but for all we know they could be a horse doctor. (No offense to you horse doctors out there.) We especially have to remind our children when they are online that not everything they read is true. Anyone can be at the keyboard typing those words.

It's so easy to scare yourself when looking for information online. I don't know how many time "Google" has told me I am dying of cancer when all I have is a cold. Yes, this mother should be wise enough to tell her the daughter what's real from not-real.

I think the Internet can be a very scary place for young children at times. That is why I have only a certain list of places I will allow my daughter to go online. She loves the computer and is such a whiz at it, but I am very careful as to her use of it. She has her own profile and she can only log into it. I have parental blocks all over the place on her profile because I want to be sure she can only go to child friendly sites.

As long as your child goes online, she will be at risk. If you don't stand behind her and look at the sites she visit, there is still a possibility she may venture on to some other sites,especially the pop up ones. Having an open and honest relationship, with regular discussions will help to alleviate this problem.

There are tons of parent guard programs that do work, but do they also filter out certain things from search engine results for those who are looking things up like this?