Last week, my fifth grade daughter, Freckles, got a homework assignment to research proteins on the internet and write a couple of paragraphs about them. It was due the next day.
This doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Well, here’s my problem with it…. (I seem to have problems with a lot of things, don’t I?)
I don’t let my kids on the internet without me and I had a boatload of my own work I had to do including going into NYC to teach a night class. This homework assignment falls into the category I call “family homework.” And I don’t think it’s fair to give me only one night to help her with it.
Freckles has a computer in her room but it’s not hooked up to the internet because I don’t want psychos chatting with my kids. I don’t want my kids chatting with psychos. In fact, I don’t want my kids chatting with anyone.
One time, a bunch of years ago, I went into an AOL chat room and about two seconds later I started getting all kinds of disgusting e-mails, messages, pictures and links. Now, the technology may have changed since then and there may be all kinds of filters and firewalls and protections in place. But there may also be ways these wackos have found to get around them. I’d bet on it.
Also, who knows what the kids will google. The internet is a big scary place filled with all kinds of inappropriate and fantastic stuff. I think kids need guidance to navigate that mix. I don’t know how old I’ll want my kids to be before I let them go on the internet by themselves. But I’m pretty sure 10 is too young.
Am I out of line?
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Hi Sarit,
I run a program in Philadelphia that teaches parents about the threat of on-line no-Rx needed websites, what they can do behaviorally (e.g., move the computer to a public space) and technologically (install parental control software). The parental control program i use in my presentations is eBlaster by Spectorsoft. Since I work with many parents where Rx drug abuse is already a problem, they do not seem to mind the “big-brother” nature of the program (privacy vs. coma or death). As far as 10 years-old being too young for trouble, a recent study conducted in published in the British Medical Journal cited that children as young as 10 were using performance-enhancing drugs (from excessive dosages of albuterol and other stimulants to anabolic steroids) for NON-competitive sports. Please swing by WebSafePhilly.org and download some of our research based materials under the “Provider’s Page.”
Sincerely,
Dr. Nicholas Patapis
Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania
There you go! That’s why I think it’s unfair of a teacher to send home an assignment that requires the use of the internet and only give the family one night to do it.
Does anyone know what’s being done at the elementary, middle or high school level to give schools some guidance on this issue? Using the internet can potentially expose kids to things they are not ready to deal with and I don’t think it should be encouraged without any parental guidance or control.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the internet. But I’m a grown up and I have the experience and judgment (usually) to navigate the web selectively. Kids don’t.
Dear Sara,
I am reading through your site postings -I am an adult- and I agree with you and many who are trying to take effective pro-active stands in the raising and education of their children!! Hurray! We need more of that! Desperately! Cause and effect as we say in the Quality Industry! IF they are introduced to the concept very early hopefully it will make a lasting impression… remember these children and kids are the stewards of the planet’s tomorrows! Giving them continuing love, encouragement as well as appropriate discipline on a timely and consistent basis is the only way to try to ensure a good healthy end result!!! Today’s world and society is rapidly changing, so many outside influences and many of them are NOT good or healthy!
Easy answers, easy solutions, quick results, quick pleasures, Me Me and More Me are leading many into the world of Me over all, this crime is justified because I want this, Me and me again, and I want everything now - these kind of beliefs and behavior help direct them towards the instant gratification syndrome of drugs, alcohol and other negative habits!! They must be introduced and kept on the “you have to work for it” syndrome, the “it doesn’t happen over night” scene, the “if you help others and give and honest effort you will be rewarded”, get outside, shovel the driveway to get a video game etc…. we also desperately need to give them positive avenues and places to work out their energy, their anxieties as they grow, to vent their frustrations, fishing, hiking, boating, kayaking, music, poetry, reading, helping handicapped and elderly, meeting, helping and working with veterans and disabled veterans, animals and animal shelters. etc. There are many many community oriented things that need help and assistance and it’s not all centered around the ME ME ME circle!
Chris
Yes! I think you are out of line. If your child has been taught to be responsible she should be able to do homework online . Especially without you looking over her shoulder.
Nancy
I don’t think so. Whatever happened to school library? Do they still have one in each school? Where you can still finds books and get lost in them?
I think that your child is older enough to do homework online WITH YOU, not looking over her shoulder, but sitting next to her is more important, show her the correct sites and talk between the info downloading about the spam, viruses, phising risks, etc so she will think twice before entering the wrong sites (She doesn’t want to crack the computer, because is not funny to say ‘I cracked the PC ’cause I let a virus in and now I can’t use it until it’s clean’) . Don’t leave her navigate alone in that web, you have to be with her to teach and filter all the bunch of information, kids do what they see, not what they’re told to. So be the role model. And take Dr Patapis advice: move the PC to a public space and put A LOT OF filters.