Well it has hit the headlines once again, The perils of the internet and the question has arisen once more.
Can Parents do more to protect their children from the dangers of the internet?
CEOP has released details that suggest young children are being blackmailed by SSPL (Scum Sucking Pond Life) especially here in Britain.
While the perverts are often all across the globe, the majority of Victims seem to be targets in the UK.
We should have a very careful look at ourselves in my opinion, and ask ourselves what is it that is so different here in the UK that we are doing wrong?
While my blog is normally about the issues in regards to Social Care and Social Services, this is an issue that I am very clear about and refuse to ignore. In fact it worries me that Social Services seem to be so far behind in the war against these predators and other areas of our Social care System, such as education, are CONSTANTLY ENCOURAGING our children to interact MORE with the Internet!
Social Care seems to be working at odds with itself in regards to the internet. In one respect Social Services are now showing some awareness, it is still far too little and all too often they are missing times where they could help parents and children from becoming victims.
But the question always rises as to what WE as parents can do... And can we do more...
As I have already said above, our schools have become obsessed with placing homework online - I must say openly that I HATE this...
I see nothing wrong in schools using sites for educational purposes, in fact I feel in some respects it can be a very good thing if handled responsibly - But they are not.
I have now seen three schools in the last year that use the Internet for homework, And two of them were frankly a farce. One, The East point Academy in Lowestoft - Places homework online, but it has to be printed off and completed - Which I think is absolutely excellent! It not only encourages pupils to take responsibility for making sure they get their homework, but encourages them to WRITE!
We have a generation of children who can barely read or write now... This IS how it should be done...
The other's, Which for legal reasons remain nameless, have the homework ENTIRELY online... It is completed on websites, and marked by the program... Time saving yes, Fun yes, Practical - NO!
Why? Simple... The pupil is able to do it over and over and over again until they get it right...
Having watched my own children using the software - I can say in all honesty that the design of the program was seriously flawed... As when I asked my daughter later the same sums she had had to do on the website - She could not give the right answers.
Because she could just keep going until she got it right, she was NOT focusing on the problem... She was NOT trying to work it out... She just clicked until it was right.
Does this seem to be straying off point? Well bare with me... As we are getting there...
As parents seeing more and more homework online, it becomes tempting to trust your children to sit in front of the PC or Tablet and do their homework... And you do not LOOK at what they are really doing - So they end up gaming or on Social Networks instead...
Or, as is the case with the other two schools I have mentioned... They use the inbuilt Social Network system that seems to have made its way into schools.
Hang on a minute! Why does a School have a Instant Message System on its Websites for its Students to contact Students? With the ever present issue of Cyber-Bullying, Who the heck came up with this genius idea?
The Schools will obviously argue they monitor everything very carefully - But as any Facebook user will know, If a Multi Million Dollar corporation struggles, how the hell is a school supposed to handle the issue? Oh thats right! It can't!
So, we have a Social care System that demands we take responsibility for what our children get up to, yet then makes it all the more difficult. Brilliant!
I am sure that i am not the only parent now that has also found my children becoming more demanding as they feel they NEED a Laptop or Tablet of their own...
And then we open yet another door to danger... As they are then free to do what they want when they want!
It has prompted a lot of discussion already, It has been featured on Loose Women - Where I found myself in agreement with Shobna Gulati of "Corrie" Fame when she said we should stop our children being on the internet until they are in their teens. Sadly, thats not likely to happen and even our teens are at risk.
Shobna Gulati even suggested we do not buy our children Internet enabled phones and Tablets - Frankly, I had to agree with her... We should if we are going to allow our children to have this stuff insist they use them in the same room as us.
What did make me annoyed was when Janet Street-Porter queried why we have this idea that we must keep contact with our children at any given moment of the day - as if that was the reason why we let our children have this technology.
If only! The truth is PEER PRESSURE!
We are living in a Gadget mad society - and the more irresponsible are buying anything and everything for their children as some kind of "Look at Me!" Status Symbol... NOT because their children need them.
I have met a few families, who I do not begrudge buying luxuries in any way, that prove just how selfish we really are... One family with three teenagers I know of has a total of A Kindle Fire Each Child, Two Desktop PC's and Three Laptops. The Teens also have an Ipad EACH...
WHY!!!!! WHY IN THE HECK WOULD YOU NEED ALL OF THAT! OH WAIT! THEY DON'T NEED IT!!!!
And having spoke to mum... She did confirm that she bought most of the stuff to "keep up with the joneses" - Their mates at school had got a new Ipad, and she did not want them to feel left out...
WHAT ARE WE THINKING? ARE WE THINKING?
Much as many people will hate me for saying it, there is a lot more we can do...
As a Parent, you should be the single most important influence on your childrens lives, which brings me to the next issue...
Since I begun to start campaigning for change to the flawed Social Care System, I have met many people who are very like minded and want to see change.
But I have also seen so many people, including us who are campaigning for change - Show a complete disregard for our behaviour. I am not innocent - I have made many abusive comments in the past when someone has had a dig at me... I am not proud of it...
But it is a big issue. Obviously if someone wants to have a "Verbal attack" at someone, the first reaction is always going to be to defend yourself and rightly so... Many comments can be extremely vile. But once it has been committed to being put online, That's it! It spreads like a virus... It is everywhere!
Quite recently, Model Leilani Dowding - a former page 3 favourite - has been involved in a rather vicious attack on another former model, Nicola McClean - Even though Miss Dowding deleted her twitter comments, it was too late... The damage was done.
We are no different... We have to be aware of our online presence and how we show ourselves.
Just because we are keeping our arguments online, does not mean it is acceptable behaviour... Yet we seem to think that because it is the Internet, We can keep an attitude of "Do as I Say, Not as I do".
When we try and teach our children about the dangers of the internet, we have to think about how we behave as well. As parents, we are the single most important influence on our children - So if we do not show some form or Internet Etiquette - Why will our children?
I am now more careful about how I handle conflicts online, I have had to educate myself to be more wise and keep my personal issues with people to private messages. Its something we should all do... How can we tell our children they should be careful if we won't?
It is actually common sense!
We have to take a step back and insist that our Social Care System DOES ITS JOB instead of trying to make its own life easier by using the Internet as a go between... Teachers should teach... Not computers!
And we must start to behave as we want our kids to behave... Online or off... It time we bucked our ideas up and started to show respect to one another... No one is saying you should not have free speech and the internet should always be about that... But don't start personal arguments on Social Networks if you want your kids to behave in a better fashion as well. It is just idiocy!
Moreover, We have to STOP TRYING TO BE SO BLOODY GADGET MAD! Our kids do NOT NEED IPADS, LAPTOPS, IPODS, KINDLES, ANDROIDS and whatever else comes out in the next few months...
They do NOT NEED THEM! WE WANT THEM COS WE WANNA LOOK GOOD!
Sod Looking good! Parenting is not about looking good... Its about being responsible!
Who cares who has got what at school... Its time we reminded our children that you do not get something for nothing!
Otherwise... We may as well just hand our kids over to Social Services... As if we do not start to take control now - The next generation won't either.
Do you agree with me? Do you have anything to add? I know I may not have covered everything well... So I really want your opinions...
Are we Gadget Mad? Are we giving our children too much without any recourse? Are our Schools breeding a generation of thickos by being to reliant on technology to teach our kids? Are our kids copying our online behaviour?
No matter your views... Please Comment!
I feel this will be a most interesting discussion.
