hi there! sorry to go slightly of topic well it's not really going off topic but as i was reading what you put, i was thinking about letting my partners eldest son whos 10 go on my laptop, and was thinking am i being a bit irresponsible if i gave him a email address? and if i let him on the internet how could i monitor what he's doing without having to look over his shoulder?i'm not exactly good with computers

if you go on hotmail they have family safety - and believe me its very tight! You have authority on who emails and who doesn't basically and in the two years my daughter has had one it has not slipped up. Don't tell the child the password though. I would be more worried they will sign up themselves to the chat rooms as this is where all the problems are occuring. Keep the laptop in a public place and let him know you are watching him - its strict but it is the only way to keep them safe. I think there might be some good guidance on the site i posted by the police.

Has anyone else had problems with that link? My internet explorer has been screwing up recently so i dunno if it's just me :S

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hi i get straight through on the link. No problems.

Aren't we missing the point somewhat here?

As parents, we should be monitioring what our children have access to, rather than relying on networks etc to keep them safe.

It's simple, really.

Don't leave your children shut away using their computers in their rooms.

Sometimes I feel like parents are too obsessed with controlling EVERY aspect of their children's lives. When I was 16, if my parents told me not to go on a website, I would have blown a fuse.
(Not having a pop at anyone here but just reading the thinkuknow website, and found it really patronising).
But what the hell would I know, I don't have kids!

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I agree with jlushh that many parents these days are too controlling, in that they need to know about every tiny aspect of their children's lives.
There's a degree of paranoia at play, too.
So much emphasis is placed - largely by the media - on the, 'threat,' to children from all manner of perceived, 'monsters.'

There really AREN'T paedophiles lurking around every street corner, or behind every seemingly innocent chatroom, messageboard etc.

I'm not attempting to downplay the very real risk of youngsters being groomed by paedophiles p[osing as other youngsters. It happens.
However, the majority of sexual abusers are members of their victims' families, close family friends, or are in positions of trust within a community.

I don't have any young children who could be at risk of inappropriate Internet contact.
My youngest is now seventeen and when he was a child, we didn't even have a computer, much less Internet access.
Had we, though, he wouldn't have been spending hours, alone using the computer.

When we DID get the Internet istalled, he was fifteen - and my husband installed certain security measures, to ensure that inapprpriately adult content couldn't be accessed.

However, as jlushh says, one can be TOO controlling - especially of adolescents.

My mother was REALLY strict with me when I got into my teens, wanting to know every detail of where I was gpoing and who I was with.
She even read my diaries and personal letters!

In the end, I rebelled in spectacular manner and brought about exactly the kinds of situations Mum had sought to keep me from!

Being a parent is to walk a very fine line between being concerned and aware, while, at the same time, not making one's children feel that they're on a choke-chain.

We have to learn to trust our youngsters to a degree - because if they feel that everything they do is open to interrogation, they WILL become secretive.
And that's when danger CAN creep in......

You would be suprised what the 11 year olds are up to on the internet.
Most are fine but a few are not and their parents don't supervise them properley. The situation is very different to 10 years ago.