it’s ok as long as they don’t type the wrong letter or word.

as a mother of 2 children bot yet teens i now as adult i have had men weird people put me in weird sitation on the internet i am not sure a teen could handle that i would like to think i would trust my teen but at the same time i would use caustion with them using it maybe blockers and other stuff

kids under 12 shouldn’t spend more then 45 mins/day in front of the pc. Teens hmm around 2-3 hours it depends on what they r doing and how fast will they get bored. Kids should be told that internet is useful but not spend 50% of their life surfing on it.

Well I say let your pre-teen do what he or she wants after you warn them and make sure there clear on the dangers of the web. Once they are done online simply check the chld’s history. If the child is not going on bad sites continue the same routine.If the chlid is going on bad sites warn them and then watch them for about a week and keep checking the history.

I allow my 13 year old to use the internet however I have restricted his usage and ability to browse with just a few simple rules. I am the administrator of his computer and he cannot download or visit sites that are not approved. You need to bookmark sites that they are allowed to visit and anything they want to add will need to be approved by you.
I have found this to be very successful and I also can see his history of sites to make sure he is surfing responsibly.

Aye, good question. I’m not a parent myself so I don’t know if you would value my opinion. However, speaking from the kid’s point of view, my parents have always thought of me as trustworthy and educated, so they never really held tight the leash, if you will. But that doesn’t mean that in times past I’ve never been curious and looked up things I shouldn’t have. So that brings me to this point - your kids may be well educated/informed and trustworthy, but there is always that question mark lurking around the corner. And by question mark, I’m implying curiosity. So if you’re kids are like every other kids, curiosity-wise, then I would consider maybe putting up some sort of block so they can’t access certain types of sites and whatnot. Maybe you’re not sitting next to them as they’re surfing the Web, but you can have a surfcontrol feature downloaded to your computer to prevent them from accessing inappropriate things.

I’m a junior in high school, and here’s my opinion on this:

Each kid is different.

Some kids go on the internet and just talk to close friends and they don’t go to bad websites or do any of that stuff.

Other kids spend all of their time talking to strangers and looking at things they shouldn’t be looking at.

The problem is, you can’t tell which kids are the good kids and which kids are the bad kids when it comes to the internet.

For example, I have a friend who’s sister is a pre-teen. She’s the sweetest girl ever…goes to church, has lots of great friends, she’s funny, and really nice. You’d never think she would be one to look at bad things or be one of those kinds of kids. However, she was sitting on the internet (with her parents close by, even) talking to a girl in another state and they were planning on meeting up and doing stuff with guys. I say stuff because it was very detailed and I don’t wanna get into it.

Even with her parents nearby, she was able to talk to this girl about this stuff and still keep it private from her parents (closing it when they walked by, etc.).

You can’t trust kids…even the good ones. My advice would be to put good filters on your computer, block certain sites, and know exactly who is on their buddy lists and stuff like that.

I hope that helps.

No matter how well informed, teens and pre-teens are still at risk on the internet. No matter how reasonable and sane you think they are they’re still growing mentally as well as physically. I do think it’s good for pre-teens to have a certain amount of autonomy on the internet but parents need to have access to every aspect of their connection experience - JUST IN CASE. I have a friend with a program where she can flip on her family room computer at any time and whatever her child is doing on their computer is broadcast to that computer. Is it necessary? Maybe not and she doesn’t use it all the time but the fact is that the child knows she could. It’s about protecting yourself as well as the child given the insane amount of information children give to people they consider friends.

First off, no child should be on the internet unsupervised. A computer connected to the internet in the child’s bedroom should be out of the question. Teen and preteens can get themselves in to bad situations if left to their own devices (if you haven’t seen it, watch NBC’s To Catch A Preditor) Neworking sites and chat rooms should be off limits. The internet is fine when adults are there to supervise.

Yes, I believe a a well-informed, educated and trustworthy pre-teen child should be able to use the net but with the parent checking up on them, and using the necessary blockers.

As nice as it is to think you can protect your kids by telling them they can’t use the computer, the public library, schools all give that child access. If you teach your child to use it responsibly and what to do if a pervert comes on via IM etc, you’re doing the best you can do.

It depends on the definition of adult supervision a parent across the room.. glancing over once in awhile is NOT supervision.

key loggers, a parent sitting there actually exploring the world of the internet.. WITH their help that is different.

So many parents are naive (my sister is one of the most naive people I’ve ever experienced when it comes to the internet) she thinks that because their child is well-informed, educated and trust worthy that she does not have anything to worry about. I have proven her wrong MANY times. Children do not have the capability (no matter how mature etc.) to always make the right choice.. or in a lot of cases stumble on the wrong thing and are exposed to things they should not be learning about from a website without an adult.

I look at it this way.. would you let your well-informed, educated and trust worthy pre-teen go upstairs in her bedroom with a stranger.. a predator or any other danger?

I would let my child sit in the living room with a stranger.. with me in the room.. supervising the entire time. I would and will let my child use the internet with my direct supervision. Children are smart they are resourceful and they all know how to get around the parent watching from across the room (alt + tab to a different website?!) Blockers do no good.. as most children even in elementary school can find ways to get to places like myspace without having to go to myspace.com. I know 10 year olds who know how to delete history, get around blockers (there is NO blocker that is 100% effective), and basically bypass any protection parents think they have against their child online.

A teenager I would let use the internet without me watching over their shoulder.. however I would definitely have a key logger on that computer and often check to make sure I know exactly what they are doing.

I think they should be able to use the internet. As for chat rooms and things, I think that gets more dangerous.

You are confused! There are no trust worthy pre teens! I don’t care how well you think you know them, how well they do in everything, as soon as your back is truned, they WILL get into trouble. So NO, don’t leave them unattended at the computer!!!

I don’t allow my 12 year old to use the computer EVER

they teach him at school and he knows how to use it,

BUT there is no reason he needs to use it independently,
IF i supervised him MAYBE, but

he can get all the information he needs from Books and the library

He doesn’t go to the library alone, nor to the mall alone

Nothing good can happen from that

But I will let him go out to eat with his friend,
( just one not a gang)

and call me using MY cellphone

M

they should use but control must be there by parents

they are older enough to know what they get into they do not to be supervised while on the internet if you are an adult just check the history on ur computer if u think ur child is doing something unsafe. When you need to watch ur children on the internet they should be 5-8 yrs old

I’ll put as simple as possibe…they don’t need to mix…

Well, I used it as a preteen, unsupervised, I never got in trouble, I never looked up porn. No need for the supervision.

When I was probably 12 and under my mom wouldn’t let me play on the interent unless she was in the room and could see what I was doing. If I was playing on yahoo games though she would have to sit next to me while I played and I could only play for 30 minutes a day. I think if the child knows about online predators and all the dangers that are online and they actaully understand them, then they can play on it with their parents or another trusted adult with them.