ADDING PROTECTION TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR CHILD’S COMPUTER
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?
