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What's Happening Next Door?
Establishing Internet Rules for Home and Away
By Laura Paul
Susan Moore Ishmael of Atlanta, Ga., does not do background checks on her 9-year-old daughter's friends and their parents. "It basically depends on my gut feeling," says Ishmael, who helped organize the Midtown Neighbors Association in her downtown neighborhood. "I will meet the parents or talk with them on the telephone so I know who they are."
With computers in most homes, parents today find it's not enough to teach their children how to be street smart. Parents need to be tech smart, knowing how to use parental controls on their home computer and how to guard their children from pornography on the Internet as well as violent video games when their children visit friends.
Ishmael participated in playgroups when her daughter was younger. Members of the Midtown Neighbors Association meet at a local park where parents can meet the other parents. She has made lifelong friends through the group.
Now that her daughter is in elementary school, Ishmael knows she may be spending more time at friends' homes where she won't be there to protect her. "With other parents, I would need to find out what their rules and regulations are with regard to the computer," Ishmael says. "At this point, with her age, we are getting into that. And I would want to make sure that the parents do have as close of parental control as I do."
In her own home, Ishmael uses computer controls so her daughter cannot receive e-mails unless they are on an approved list. "That makes me feel much safer as a parent," she says. "I don't want her on there being able to chat with anybody."
Experts recommend parents establish rules or sign an Internet safety contract for using the Internet at home, school, the library or at friends' homes.
