While I'm much more in favor of parents doing it over the government, I'm still not a huge fan of parental filters of the Internet. They're unlikely to keep out everything, and I'm not sure that it really makes your child a better person. The really nasty sides of the web are people who prey on children, and they're just as likely to be in the Disney chatroom as anywhere else. When the discussion came up on the PLUG mailing list I enjoyed this post by Craig White:

My own personal view is that it is a big bad world out there and unless they are home schooled, no cable tv, and pretty much sheltered, you can't prevent them from being exposed to the real world and thus, I would never try to do that - I ended up with culturally savvy but nice, well mannered kids.

One of the best things about being a parent was being asked to explain those hard things.

posted Sep 16, 2005 | permanent link