Frontline, the PBS documentary news show, is doing an episode tonight about how children today are growing up online. Even though many Mommy Poppins readers have younger children, even some of the preschoolers are starting to go online and I know my 8 year old is starting to Google search for things and look at youtube.
It does concern me because I know how easy it is for ME to have some unwelcome image pop up from an innocent search and it's scary to think what she might accidentally stumble upon.
Growing Up Online focuses on teenagers and the kinds of things that they re doing online that might get them in trouble as well as some of the myths that parents are worried about, like sexual predators. Some of the issues that are discussed are cyber-bullying, uploading sexual images and the different information kids can find online that could be destructive. But, for me, the theme of the show was about how the internet is forcing parents to let go and acknowledge how little control we (will) have over our children and how little we may know about their lives.