Know Their ONLINE World

To tell or not to tell, this is the question While in the process of installing technology to protect my twelve year old daughter from online predators, I am faced with the question of whether to tell her about of the installation or not.  My daughter is a “good kid”, smart, IM savvy, athletic, social, naive, impressionable and more.  When I approached my ex-wife with the notion of telling my daughter, the reaction was quite surprising and forceful, commenting; if your attempting to find out why our daughter is acting strange or secretive, why would you ever let her know you have the capability of viewing her IM’s?  She added, if our daughter suddenly disappears for several hours, suggesting that she has gone to the Mall, you can check and perhaps see that she has gone elsewhere.  OK, I understand; but isn’t it potentially more effective to have a “partnership: with my daughter?  What if I suggest to her that there is a protection tool on her computer; protecting her from predators?  What if my partnership is true and I don’t look at all her online conversations (I really don’t have the interest or time).  If my daughter trusts me, haven’t I created a new level of awareness that leads to a greater level of protection?  

Several months ago, Cox Cummunication stated that, “One in five children who go online are approached by an online predator.”  I recently heard a comment that challenged the Cox statement as being, “out of context”, suggesting the number is overstated and actually much lower.  Last week, I spoke with law enforcement involved in computer sex crimes (online predators) and when presented with the Cox statistic, they commented, “that is very low.”  To date, in my family we have had two out of five children approached by a potential online predator; one with a ten year old while in www.clubpenguin.com; and the other with a fifteen year old while in www.myspace.com.  The dangers are real and the incidence are expanding.  We look forward to delivering relevent  and timely information, so that we can know and protect their world.