16 February 2007

Momma bear

I'd be lying if I said I was the least bit interested in website perusal, or slightly into net surfing. Lying through my teeth, in fact. I'm not very interested in these things. I'm helplessly addicted to the things, that's what...! Well, anyway, perhaps not so strange, then, that it has somehow rubbed off on the kids.

Jakob is leading the way, of course, being the oldest. I love teaching him about the more technical details, as well as showing him around Google Earth (boy, did we get lost!)... He's a quick learner (aren't all kids?) and it intrigues me how he finds penguin bashing yetis and walrus-tossing competitions all by himself, not even knowing much English!

Being the responsible parents, we have, of course, installed a parental control device on the kids' account, and the email account I created for Jakob sends his emails straight to me... (Mind you, he hasn't sent - or received - a single one in about 6 months...)

Then there's msn... That's what he needed an email address for, of course. Half of his classmates were already on - as well as a friend who lives elsewhere - so I figured it'd be alright. Later I half regretted... I mean, usually he's only on in the evenings, when we're around, and he's not on for very long either (what with the penguin-bashing etc taking up a lot of time), but some days he comes home on his own. And could be doing anything, really, but what I worried about was msn... Who knows what crazy people could be out there?

So I copied all of his contacts. (sic!) I prefer to look at it as momma-bearish rather than thievish or spyish... Later, when they've logged on and found this unknown address, they have asked me who I was, and then it was just fiiine. Really! I was concerned I was prying. Now it feels more like mingling! So the next time Jakob tells me "xx is using foul language" (he'll say things like that..), I can message them back, telling them not to. And the weird thing? They're ok with it. They seem to like it somehow. Some of them will even message me of their own free will (rumour's out I've got quite a few emoticons...) and chat for a while. Jakob should be safe. And so am I - until he's a teenager and creates his own aliases on a daily basis...

1 comment:

Devil Mood said...

I think what's important is that you keep a constant dialogue with them about those things. If anything strange happens, they will tell you, I'm sure.
Walrus tossing competitions...that sounds very scary! Oh it's a game..(relief)